Similar Products- Character Analysis, Anton Chigurh

Anton Chigurh, played by Javier Bardem in the film adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s ‘No Country for Old Men’ is a psychopathic hit man who is trying to recover $2 million from a disastrous drug deal. He is the villainous protagonist of the film, who has a clear goal, and will do anything to achieve it. We know almost nothing about his past, which creates a closed off and mysterious character. However, like all good protagonists, he has a certain level of charisma and charm to allow the reader to like and follow the character, despite his clear lack of morals, ethics and conscience.

Throughout the film, he uses a coin-flip to determine whether to kill his victims, portraying his ruthlessness and villainy. This device throughout the film adds tension and suspense, especially if the character on whose life the coin rests is a likeable and apparently innocent character, as in the excerpt above with the life of the shop owner. In the scene above, he is seemingly calm, collected and in control. This is a much used character trait of on screen psychopaths, to appear indifferent to heinous acts such as murder, creating a chilling and tense atmosphere on screen. The closed off, menacing way Bardem plays Chigurh throughout is suspenseful, as it gives the audience no clue as to what he is going to do next. An example of this is in the shootout in the motel, where he kills an unarmed, surrendered man after he has apparently spared his life. The clip is below.

In this clip, as I mentioned before, we see Anton kill a defenceless man behind a curtain. However, despite the fact that he does kill the begging man, the closing of the curtain provides a point of interest. It could be argued that Anton is perhaps displaying a shred of humanity in not watching the man die. The curtain could be acting as a physical barrier to his conscience, helping him distance himself from the heartlessness of what he is doing.

The film follows Anton throughout the majority of its running time. We learn his mannerisms, the way he speaks to people, of his remorselessness and cruelty, but little about him as a person. This is probably done to present him as a cold, shut off individual who is incapable of normal human emotion, and therefore doesn’t warrant sympathy. It is typical of filmmakers to show perhaps the childhood, or to show villains as human beings to draw sympathy and even empathy from the audience. However, this is not done or attempted in ‘No Country for Old Men’- Anton does not deserve sympathy, he is a heartless killer. Of course, as a protagonist it is still possible for the audience to like Anton, for his calm demeanour, wit, manner and composure.