Symbolic doomsday, message film

Rating: 9/10 (23 November 2007)

And I thought Stanley Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut was a kick in the teeth. Apparently the Coen bros have become so sophisticatedly successful as film makers that pleasing American audiences is of little concern to them. All the basic formula gimmicks are shattered and we are left with an ending as disturbingly fatalistic as that found in the opera Rigoletto.
Symbolically the film's story might have something to say. What happens when a fortune in loot becomes an obsession to someone hunted down by a relentless psycho? What happens to a country obsessed with materialism when religious psychopaths long for its demise? The hero certainly represents most of us. We all desire wealth and are basically good. Our hero's mistake is being human; he attempts to help someone who asked for water.
It's too easy to define this film as just a wild depiction of modern day, American Gothic. If that were the case, the ending probably would allow the same kind of satisfaction we experienced in Blood Simple or Fargo. Instead, we are purposely let down and Tommy Lee Jones doesn't get the bad guy. The law fails to protect and exact justice and surrenders to a world of increasing hostility. Even his dream recounting in the final scene reflects America's hypocrisy, or inattention: Who cares? "Dreams mean little to other than the dreamer." We want the tangible . . . now, not a dream, not a meaninglessly slow ride to oblivion, not a fade-to-black. Whether you are young or an old man, this country in film is hard to appreciate.
Without doubt, the script should be nominated for an Oscar, as well as the cinematography.