77 Wars

don’t read this if you do not want to read something that alludes to plot lines and events in this book or film.

i recently read this book and then within a week or so i watched the film. i must say that i was impressed with what the coen brothers did with this story. it seemed like all of the images i had in my mind set right on top of what i watched in the film and there wasn’t much that didn’t fit. the one thing i disliked in the film was woody harrelson. i’ve liked him in other films, well, at least in natural born killers and kingpin (well, maybe i don’t like him that much, but i don’t hate him), but he seemed awkward, out of place and i feel it should have been someone a little more, uhh, serious i suppose.

the book made more sense when it came to what the story meant because of the interweaving of the sheriff’s journal entries, so if you like this kind of bleak shit, then go get the book and read it. it is worth your time and can probably be read in a day or two if you’ve got the time.

overall it seemed to me that mccarthy states here the nature of man. and that nature is destructive on one hand, but also can be sympathetic and, i want to say maternal. of course, death is a major theme and it’s inevitability seems to be a point as well. while the changing times catching up with a sleepy kind of desert and a more traditional mindset amongst the people is very obviously presented, it didn’t feel like that was why mccarthy was writing this story. maybe the character chigurh is just representative of man’s self-destructive nature and death and that no matter what you do to it, it will not ever stop.

i will most likely come back to this post and update as i think about it a little more, but i’m off to meet a friend for dinner and beer at a new place over on heliotrope. if it’s worth a damn, i’ll post something about it here. if you were into this film and/or book, i highly recommend that you read “the road” also by cormac mccarthy.