No Country For Old Men Close-Up (Closing Sequence)

Multiple events in the closing sequence reinforce the primary crocus of the narrative, chance and it’s role in death. Firstly, Carla Jean, a woman who has had almost no role in the events of the film, is killed by Anton merely because he promised he would do so, presenting him, again, as an incarnation of death. However, he leaves her life up to the role of luck with a coin toss, saying that “This is the best I can do for you”, implying she at least has a chance of surviving this way. However, she guarantees her death by refusing to call the coin. Therefore, the only character in the film to not play Anton’s game of chance has a certain death as a result, proving that to deny death is to guarantee it.

Another way in which the role/importance of chance is reinforced is through Anton’s own near death experience in a random car crash. He follows the rules of the road, going past a green light, but is nearly killed by a sudden, jarring car crash. He survives, but is left seriously injured. Not only does the random crash signify the role of chance, but Anton surviving does too, showing that often events may be random and have no consequence, merely happening by pure chance or misfortune. In this way, it reflects the survival of the gas station clerk from earlier in the film. He survives by pure luck, and in the end, the seeming pointlessness of the scene serves to back up the role of chance in death.

Also, Bell’s conversation with his relative also evidences the role of chance. They speak about the relative being crippled by a man who recently died in prison, and Uncle Mac, who was suddenly shot down in his porch and died in the night after. The grim nature of the sequence of random, uncorrelated violence further perpetuates the vital role of chance in death, or even ones life, shown in how Bell’s relative still lives, despite his brisk encounter with death. His serving and the man who crippled him shows the randomness of death, alongside the pointlessness of the encounter. The man’s life has been ruined by a random event. Ceaseless, meaningless chaos. The very reason that Bell retires. Even Bell’s line (I’m older now than he ever was by twenty years.”, speaking on his father, shows that death does not wait on or is correlated to age. Hence the random and brutal deaths deaths of younger and aspiring men like Moss in the film.