One, Llewelyn Moss, (Josh Brolin) is the man you're rooting for, the man who knows his task is "dumber than hell" but is going, "anyways." Two, Sheriff Ed Tom Bell, (Tommy Lee Jones) represents force itself, as the perfectly honest cop who drawls out a morally grounding narrative while readying to take on the antagonist, even though he knows he's putting "his soul at hazard."

Three is the soul -- the dark and nightmarish soul -- of No Country For Old Men, a man named Anton Chigurh, played by Javier Bardem. He's a villain of immense scale and unfathomable cold, and he is a cinematic fright without parallel. This is a stark, brilliant film that doesn't quite take sides, but you can sense directors Joel and Ethan Coen are in Chigurh's corner. Not without good reason. Moss is wrong and Chigurh is his hell -- and he's anything but stupid.

Text: Raja Sen

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