No Country for Reasonable Thought Process

The film No Country For Old Men, directed by Joel and Ethan Coen, is centered two characters who are both pursuing 2.1 million dollars in cash. One of them is willing to do anything to keep this treasure, while the other man is wanting to return it to the drug cartel from which it came, by any means necessary. No Country For Old Men perpetuates the ideology that all humans are consumed by a need for money.

This film supports the idea that people are powerless to refuse a large sum of money and that they will do anything to acquire it. For example, when Llewelyn, the film's protagonist, finds a couple million dollars in cash out in the desert at the gruesome scene of a shootout, instead of reporting the horrific massacre to the authorities, he is blinded by the money that he finds among the rotting carcasses and takes it for himself. The protagonist usually exemplifies the ideal hero that always does the right thing, but this is not the case in No Country For Old Men, where Llewelyn abandons reason for monetary gain, which reinforces the idea that no one can refuse money.

Later in the film, Llewelyn is hunted by the somewhat rightful owners of the money. After he is chased and wounded badly, he is given a chance to save his wife by surrendering the money to his pursuer, but Llewelyn declines this merciful deal because he is filled with greed and values the money more than he does the life of his own wife. Although he is the protagonist of the film, he is still poisoned by an unhealthy lust for money that is supported by the fact that he is willing to sacrifice the safety of his wife for money that, at this point, has nearly cost him his life.

From not reporting a mass shooting to the authorities, to abandoning your own wife, No Country For Old Men supports the ideology that people are consumed by money.