I’m a fan of both Blood Meridian and the Coen Brothers film of No Country for Old Men, both by Cormac McCarthy, without fully understanding them. They are dense pieces of uncomfortable art that transgress what is expected, that show the world as it is, happy endings be damned.

Over the long weekend, I happened upon a YouTube channel that offered critical insight into both:

This video is half an hour, and offers an interesting theory: the film we see is told from the viewpoint of the Sherriff Bell, and is unreliable to that extent. It is therefore possible that the monstrous antagonist Anton Chigur does not exist, and is simply a personification of the Evil of the World, which Bell doesn’t know how to come to grips with. The thematic story is more hopeful than the narrative suggests.

This raises the question of whether thematic hope is of any value when drowned in narrative blood, but never mind, these are aesthetic questions and worth exploring. Forgiving Coen Brothers films their difficult endings is simply what one does, as is finding new thematic angles to look at them from.

But I’ve never read the book No Country For Old Men. The only McCarthy book I’ve read is Blood Meridian, or The Evening Redness in the West. It is far more of an anti-Western than Unforgiven dreams of being. In this story, the very concept of heroism is drowned in slaughter, and the westward expansion of the United States becomes an unholy sacrament of the God of War. It is not an easy novel to read, but it is rewarding for its linguistic beauty and its powerful scenes.

It is also completely un-filmable, and I am fine with this.

The video below explains the reasons why it could never be a movie, not even in the Coen Brothers capable hands. It also does wonders for pulling out the meanings of the story and the significance of the ending. It is also Five Hours long (which should give you an idea of the problems of adapting the book). If you have read the book, I recommend it. If you have not, watching a bit of it may help you decide whether you want to take the plunge.

Both videos are just this guy talking into the camera, with clips from the film No Country for Old Men or green-screened images appropriate to Blood Meridian. Thus, they’re a testament to his rhetorical skills, which never become boring. I’ve subscribed to his channel, and if you like McCarthy or the Coens, he’s worth checking out.