Do you find the ending of the film to be satisfying resolution? Why?
- Personally I found the ending to this film incredibly unsatisfying. this is because there wasn't the stereotypical hero vs villian standoff that typically comes from the Western genre.
How were you expecting the film to end?
- I was expecting Moss and Chigurh to eventually have a face to face fight, as that's what the audience expect to happen. The audience spend the entire film witnessing the tension that our 'protagonist' and 'antagonist'have with each other, and for Moss to die off screen by the hands of someone other than Chigurh seems pretty anti climactic.
Why do you feel the Coen Brothers decided to have their main protagonist killed offscreen , and then avoid a final climax between Sheriff Bell and Chigurh ? Consider the effect on the audience in terms of expectations of genre and narrative, and the themes of law and order v criminality , good v evil , heroism etc.
- I think that the Coen brothers decided to have Moss killed off screen because everyone was expecting a Moss vs Chigurh scene, and to nopt have that was definitely a narrative plot twist that no one was expecting. As for the avoidence between Bell and Chigurh, i think the brothers did this to keep Bell true to his character without forcing the hero stereotype onto him after Moss died. Considering the film is a Western Action genre, the lack of western style action is quite a twist that the brothers created.
Who represents the force of good in the film ? What does the film's ending suggest about the battle between good and evil ?
- I think that there isn't really a force of good and evil in this film, more of morally right and wrong. Carla Jean is the innocent, white light that Moss is trying to protect. Moss himself is more grey than anything else, he does bad things but for a good cause. whilst Chigurh isn't evil, he is just a man who got paid to do a jobb.