I don’t even buy green bananas any more
May 30th 2009 11:34
And things about films that interest me. Like the books some of them are based on. And the authors of the books.
I’ve just finished reading Cormac McCarthy’s No Country For Old Men
It’s not surprising he’d write a film about old men. He’s getting old himself. As he said to the Cohen Bros in Time Magazine, “A friend of mine, who’s slightly older than me told me, ‘I don’t even buy green bananas any more.’ I’m not quite there yet, but I understood what he was saying.”
Really Long Link
I love the film. For lots of reasons. I just love the book more. So I’m going to write about the book first.
It’s very clear what the book is going to be about from the opening two pages. It’s going to explore changing morality in the modern world. It’s going to question the big questions. It’s not going to give any definitive answers. It’s just going to pose the questions and tell a story that might offer the reader some answers, but might not. But it’s going to give the reader a lot to think about. It’s the type of book I like. One that captivates me from page 1.
The book opens with the narrator, Sheriff Bell, an ageing man verging on retirement, shooting the breeze, chewing the cud. His morality is old-fashioned American bible-belt type morality. He believes in the soul and right and wrong. He believes in God and hell and Satan. He believes in the law, justice and all those things Americans have prided themselves on for centuries.
Up until a certain time, and certainly during the majority of his time as a law-enforcer, he believed even criminals had a moral compass of some sort. An unwrtitten code of ethics. But due to the experience of having a disturbing conversation with a young murderer he arrested shortly before the man was executed, Sheriff Bell suspects there is ‘some new kind’ (p3) of criminal out there now – the soulless man. And he doubts if he has the capacity or wherewithal to deal with this new breed. Or the willingness.
‘And I think a man would have to put his soul at hazard. And I won’t do that,’ he says (p4). In fact, the Sheriff makes it clear this book is going to be about an even worse type of criminal than the soulless man, when he says, ‘But he wasn’t nothing compared to what was coming down the pike.’ (p3).
So already by page 2, I wanted to know what is worse than a soulless man. It sure kept me reading.
I wondered about the title. I don’t think it’s the country or landscape itself that is not for old men. It’s the new breed of criminal taking over the countryside. The title of the book is taken from the opening line of a Yeats’ poem, Sailing to Byzantium.
So the film is based on a book which is based on a poem. And that’s the type of things I’ll be talking about in regard to film. All the things the reviewers don’t get into much because they’re busy writing reviews. I’ll try to avoid words like seminal.
I’m BobB. And you wish you were.
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Comment by jimmy
cyberperson
I am looking forward to reading your posts.
This blog actually belonged to my mother but she got blocked because she let another blogger post here. That was David. I'm not really sure why he was banned except there seemed to be some uproar about the language he used.
Mum says ' the world is full of idiots'. I've heard her say that lots of times and I used to ask her what she meant. I think I know now.
She says she is looking forward to reading your posts too. And Good Luck.
I thought No Country for Old Men was a great film. I want to read the book now.
Comment by BobB
FILMENATOR
EveryPictureTellsaStory
I didn't know about all that. I'm not much of a historian. I did think it was a bit strange this blog was vacant. I'd better be careful then by the sounds of it. I've been known to use a bit of colourful language in my time. And I don't mean the words red yellow and blue. Or rainbow.Tell your mum she's welcome to apply to write for it. Tell her to practice her best Arnie voice and just say, "I'll be back." I really liked the name Filmenator. Tell her that's why I chose this blog.
The book No Country For Old Men is a great read. That Cormac McCarthy sure can write for an old codger. Let me know what you think about it when you've read it. I like "shooting the breeze" about books and films.
I've always wanted to write a book myself. I figured out early on, no-one else is going to write a book by me. I'd have to do it. One day I'll come up with a decent idea and start it. I'd better start it soon or it might end up being set in a retirment village and be called No Place For Young Chicks.
BobB
Comment by jimmy
cyberperson
I read No Country for Old Men and now It's got me thinking about the differences between the book and the film. Was the book better or just different?
In the film, the character Chigurh is more chilling. His face when he is strangling the deputy is unforgettable. And the scene where he intimidates the filling station owner, with barely a change of inflection, is just brilliant. That might be partly because you (or I) have an immediate response to the character in visual form but it is might also be because of the way the dialogue has been selected from the book. The film puts the focus on Chigurh’s craziness and his relentless pursuit. In the book he comes across as a bit more philosophical, a bit less crazy. Like a force - which he is - that just keeps rolling on.
The idea of choices and where they lead comes up with more strands in the book. In the film this is simplified - like with the extra coin toss. The conversation Chigurh has with Wells just before shooting him is much longer in the book but in both film and book he says the line:
If the rule you followed led you to this of what use was the rule?
I loved that.