Analysis of No country for old men

Another great movie is no country for old men, directed by the famous Coen brothers.
From the onset the use of sound, lighting and wide shots all help portray a scene of loneliness.

To begin with, the scene is shot with a master shot of the open plains of America. The scene looks desolate and isolated. But also looks old and weary through the use of decaying trees and grass and the lack of characters add a sense of mystery to the film. Metaphorically, this represents a decay as said previously which is seen more apparent through out the film. Yet, (without the use of non-diegetic sound) the scene looks peaceful, through the use or lack of camera movement, giving each shot to be similar to a photograph or a painting. It is only though the non-diegetic sound of a voice over that we begin to understand the nature of the film to be violent and similar to the metaphorically meaning of the shots, a sense of decay. The lack of characters in means a lack of expression, and instead the directors want the audience to look deeper into the meaning of the film. It is clear the film will not be the stereotype of a generic Hollywood thriller, instead a slow-paced thought full film which raises the questions of violence, all done through the opening scene.

Soon, the master shots are lost through the use of characters. A handcuffed character enters the shot with supervision of a police officer. This portrays an sense of suspense, the audience become intrigued and begin to question as to why this has happened. This also puts the characters into perspective. One is of authority, and the obvious one being in control, and the other weaker and portrays a lack of control (through the use of handcuffs). This however soon becomes untrue, as a series of events causes a role reversal and in contrast to the landscape there is a similarity to good being lost and evil overtaking good.
The next shot uses a zoom in on the police officers face within an office, however, blurred within the background the handcuffed man rises from the chair and movies towards the officer and strangles him. To begin with the use of a slow zoom in on the police officers face creates an idea of suspense and with the use of the blurred character rising an idea of impending danger closing in on authority is used.