Analysis of the No Country for Old Men opening

Analysis of the opening to No Country for Old Men

The film starts with a slideshow of long shots of a rural, desolate landscape, all with a narrator giving some back story to the scene. Straight away, connotations of a Western film have been conjured, despite no characters have yet appeared on screen. This is immediately questioned in the next low angle shot of the two men with the police car; and with the conventions of Westerns being laid out, it is obvious to the audience within the scene that one of the men will take the archetype “villain” character.

The use of the wide shots of the landscape gives the audience a moment to reflect on the narrator, which implies what he is saying is important. The non-digetic music also adds to this, with the wind blowing softly to emphasise the isolation of the setting, which just makes the placement of the characters all the more bizarre.

The police car can be used to date the film to the 1980's, which makes this a modern Western. This may have been done to exploit the locations that Westerns use and use some of the typical scenarios, but the film can still take advantage of using modern technology to explore new areas films set in the late 1800's couldn't.

There is almost a match dissolve between the villain sat in the darkness in the back of the car and when he's in darkness at the back of the prison wall. This gives me the impression that this process is one he is used to and has experience with, as he is very calm up until he kills the policeman.

The policeman is the first character we hear talk, which builds audience empathy for him as he is killed as we can see the killer walking up behind him, and through dramatic irony we feel somewhat sorry for him. The lack of any non-digetic sound at this point increases the tension as he walks up behind him as if you could physically feel him getting closer.

Again, the lack of a soundtrack when the killer chokes the policeman shows the lack of perceived importance the film shows for the character's death, as it doesn't warrant the need for one, which mirrors the lack of empathy the killer shows for killing the policeman. The lack of emotion he shows when killing his first two victims (the policeman and the man whose car he steals) builds up a reputation in the audience's mind of him being heartless and has no empathy for his actions.

The scuff marks on the floor and a slow pan up, stopping before it shows any gore, gives the viewer a moment to think about the brutal way this man has just been killed, which is more effective that if the killer had just shot him. The oxygen tank that the policeman talked about is used immediately following this scene, which tells the audience that the killer had used before killing the man in the car at least once before.