When Film Touches Philosophy

I was fortunate to catch a preview screening of No Country For Old Men last night. Film school teaches you to talk about film from a technical, craftmenship standpoint. One learns how to talk about performance, film stock, lighting, visual design, camera use, scene, character, structure and so forth...

...but some films are able to achieve a different level of relevance which renders the technical elements moot. Or at least pushes them into the background and makes them seem trite (I feel like there is a better word I should use).

No Country is one of those films. It is a movie which puts men into a philosophical position/question. What do you do when you're outmatched by malevolent/nihilistic forces? How does one react? How would men in prior times reacted? Is there something new and worse today? Something worse? What is the point of struggling against forces so powerful, evil, and inevitable? What is a man to do?

The movie is about powerful forces the characters don't understand. A cowboy comes across a drug deal gone wrong and finds 2 million dollars. He steals the money which unleashes a hunt for him. Both sides come after him with incredible resources which he alternatively runs away from and fights using his wits and skills. Also on the trail, sort of, is a sheriff who is always one step behind and quite clearly does not want to deal with the malevolence. He is outmatched. The bad guys have more resources, more weapons, better training, and more will.

I didn't like the end. I didn't like the philosophy. The movie posed great philosophical/ethical/moral questions and provided no answers. I will read the book.