Criminology

The movie No Country for Old Men is a visually stunning character driven movie directed by the Coen brothers set in Texas in the 1980s. The film follows Llewelyn Moss the main protagonist in the story as he attempts to get away with 2 million dollars from a drug deal gone awry that he had stumbled upon unfortunately for him he is then hunted by Anton Chigurh a hitman hired to recover the money whose actions leave a trail of bodies followed by Sherriff Ed Tom Bell. While being violent in nature the film doesnt depict violence in the way that other films do rather it uses a technique for implied violence wherein instead of showing the act itself through a scene where a character is obviously shot what happens instead is an implied action wherein the camera pans away and refocuses back on the killer with no indication that something occurred except through gestures made by the killer himself.

One factor that is noticeable immediately in the film is the absence of the usual amount of background characters, in most films  there are usually a lot of background characters either loitering about, making noise or just being there to fill in the background in No Country for Old Men there  are few if any background characters, most of the towns even seem like ghost towns this is probably due to the intention of the directors to focus all action on the characters themselves and make the movie more character intensive and character driven. The reason for the title of the film makes sense if you use Sheriff Bell as the focal point. If you were to look at the opening scene of the film he tells us that life used to be really easy compare that with his demeanor throughout the film which is rather laid back and the fact he talks about nonsensical topics with most of the people he interacts with  even when hes trying to get information about the recent spree of murders shows that Bell is used to an easy going way of life. When Bell and his deputy try to enter the room of Moss the deputy asks why Bell doesnt have his gun drawn he says he doesnt need it because hes not going in first. Bell does draw his gun and before he enters the room where Moss has been killed because hes afraid that Chigurh is hiding inside. It is at this moment that Bell realizes that the world of 1980s is too much for him to cope with hence the name of the movie no country for old men.

Scene Analysis
In the opening scenes of the film we see several dead bodies strewn on the ground due to an apparent drug deal gone wrong, most of the dead bodies are Mexican the use of Mexicans in the film to portray the drug industry can be attributed to several factors one is that the growing trade and flow of narcotics into the U.S. comes from Mexico which can account for 70 of all illegal narcotics being shipped into the country, the second reason is the well publicized accounts on the news that the numerous Mexican cartels are fighting each other to control the lucrative supply route of narcotics into the U.S. which is a billion dollar underground industry. The fighting has escalated to such an extent that the dead bodies of numerous cartel members can be found lying out in the open on numerous streets as a warning to the other cartels to back down. It may not be immediately apparent but the film is guilty of the criminal theory of labeling due to its primary use of Mexicans to represent the drug industry, while it may be true that a majority of illegal narcotics shipped into the country are from Mexico it doesnt make much sense that such a large group of Mexicans would be allowed through U.S. border patrols. While it is up to the writers how they wish to portray criminals in the movie not all drug traffickers are Mexican in fact the drug industry employs people of numerous nationalities and ethnic backgrounds the primary use of Mexicans in the movie might encourage a stigma attached to all Mexicans as being criminals even though they are innocent.

Character Analysis
The character of Llewelyn Moss while seemingly a protagonist in the film exhibits actions akin to several theories of criminal behavior for example in the beginning of the film when he stumbles across the bodies of several dead Mexicans common sense usually dictates that a person should call the police in such an instance however the character instead of calling the police took a bag full of money from the scene, presumably for his own gain and fled. Under the theory routine activities by Cohen and Felson a crime would occur if at certain point of time and space a possible offender meets an attractive target who lacks capable guardianship a crime would possibly occur comparable to placing a steak in front of a lion, the lion due to his nature would eat the steak similar to how a possible criminal would see an ideal crime with little possibility of being caught and follows on through with the crime.

 The theory also stipulates that it is a persons daily routines that affect the likelihood that an attractive target would meet a possible criminal where no effective guardianship is around. In this particular instance in the film it is the daily routine of Moss who goes hunting which causes him to stumble upon the opportunity to take the bag full of money and run, he saw the opportunity and took it even though it would be a crime since he would be taking evidence away from a crime scene.

The movie can be considered a peek into how an ordinary person can go from being average to being someone on the run all because of a decision to get rich quickly. The role of Llewelyn Moss can actually  be interpreted as a personification for criminal behavior in general this is due to the fact that when Moss was presented with a chance to get rich quickly instead of calling the police and reporting the incident he instead took advantage of it. This personifies criminal behavior in general because all criminals were once ordinary people however when presented with the opportunity to get rich quickly through the wrong means instead of staying on the right path they chose to follow on through with their desires and like Moss who in the end died due to his ill decision most criminals also do end up paying the price for the ill decisions they commit.

The behavior of Anton Chigurh portrayed by Javier Bardem in the movie can be characterized under the criminal theories of control and constitutional-learning when trying to interpret his actions and the motivations behind them. Under the theory of control the key factor behind the causation of crime is the presence or absence of controlling mechanisms that would otherwise inhibit such behavior in the form of social or familial bonds or a method of internal self control. In the case of Chirgurh in the movie while not being a serial killer under the same category as Hannibal Lector in popular fiction or Ted Kaczynski popularly known as the Unabomber Chigurh shows himself to be a casual methodical killer with a strange psychological fixation to make sure that the soles of his boots are free from blood whenever he murders someone couple that with scenes showing him casually stating to the character Carla Jean Moss that whether she lives or dies is up to the toss of a coin shows that Chigurh can be assumed as an individual who lacks normal methods of control that would stop an average person from committing acts of murder. The assumption that Chigurh lacks certain controlling mechanisms can be deduced from his demeanor throughout the film which is nearly emotionless almost robot like akin to the Terminator in another popular film.

This behavior could be attributed to a lack of social interaction which would explain the nonexistent social bonds which would then cause Chigurh to act the way he did since his thought process was outside what would be considered the normal way of thinking in society. Basing the findings on the theory of control it can be deduced then that the reason Chigurh acted the way he did was due to a distinct lack of social interaction which resulted in a lack of social bonds which meant he lacked the normal methods of control resulting in his predilection towards criminal behavior. Under the theory of constitutional learning criminal and noncriminal behavior has its gains and losses and if the gains resulting from committing a crime for monetary gain outweigh the possible losses then a person will commit a criminal act. In the movie Chigurh is hired as a hitman to retrieve the money and doing so commits numerous acts of murder which is a crime. In committing these acts he is motivated by monetary gain in the form of the reward he will get when he retrieves the money.

Overall Theme Analysis
Violence, murder, drugs, greed and psychopathic villains play major roles in the movie however the overall theme of the movie that ties them all up is the pessimistic belief that there is little if anything at all that anyone can do about these negative aspects of human nature. The character of Bell continuously shows viewers that there is evil in the world and that hoping it will go away just wont be enough. In the film though Bell does not appear as being cynical rather he seems resigned to the fact that there is inherent evil in human beings. This underlying theme in the movie of the inherent evil in mankind can be compared to the theory of control which states that criminal motivation is widespread and that it is only through social or familial bonds that it is kept under control. This view of humanity that can be interpreted from the movie while being fatalistic does make sense to an extent, if you were to boil crime down to its essence it is simply the act of gaining something through a certain means. Humans are a species ruled by our desires and when we desire something we try to obtain it, crime could be interpreted as simple as a persons way of satisfying their inner need to fulfill their desires and that the only way to stop this form of desire is focus on other matters such as bonds of friendship or family.

Take away these distractions and a person simply focuses on fulfilling the desires of his inner nature. Saying that all of humanity is evil may be too extreme rather it can be interpreted that we all have our types of desires that we want fulfilled it is just that some desires go against the norms of society and when it goes against the norms it is considered a crime.