No Country For Old Men Analysis

After watching the opening of No Country For Old Men it leaves a lot of questions open for audience to think over. It first shows time passing with long shots of the setting each shot getting brighter whilst a sheriff is talking about an old case. The case that the sheriff is talking about tell us about someone who had committed murder. This opening is different from most Thriller openings because its slow paced and there is a narrator talking over the building up the setting of what we can almost match it to Southern America e.g. Texas.

The first shot of people is after a pan over the desolate landscape to show a man in dark clothing being arrested and put into the back of a cop car. This then makes you wonder what is the man in dark clothing doing out there. When the man is being put into the back of the car you cannot see the mans face which adds to the mystery as to who he is. A prop that is used that also adds to the mystery is something that the cop puts into the front of the car. It looks like a gas canister, but why it is there we do not know.

Once the cop gets into the car all the light is on him and the man being arrested is in darkness. This could suggest a different in good and bad between the two men. The man in the back of the car throughout this opening is always in shadow or out of focus. Even at the police station when he is committing murder of the the cop that has arrested him, part of his face is in shadow and you only see his face once he has finished. When he is killing the cop he appears to know what he is doing which makes him seem like a very twisted person. The look his face is very determined but almost like he enjoys killing as his face looks like he could be smiling.

The aerial shot of the two men on the floor is very disturbing as the scuff marks from the cops shoes whilst he was struggling can clearly be seen. Also, the expressions on the men's faces, the cops being pain and the murderers being determination, make this even more disturbing as it shows that the murderer doesn't care that he is causing this pain, he wants this man dead just for his own escape and pleasure.

Even though this is a slow paced opening, the audience will want to watch the rest of this film just to find out why this man is doing this, why he was there and to what will happen next which is what you want from a thriller opening to keep the audience engaged and for them to keep on watching.