Javier Bardem’s Oscar-winning performance as the psychopathic hitman Anton Chigurh in No Country for Old Men has won acclaim as the villain of one of the best all-time thrillers of the 2000s. Moreover, Anton is representative not only of evil but the grim face of death itself, a motif that’s highlighted through several moments in the film’s two-hour runtime.
Upon closer inspection, two specific elements underline his status as a symbol of death: his strange, shaggy haircut and chilling coin-flips (fun fact: Anton Chigurh’s haircut was the linchpin that convinced Javier Bardem to take the role). Together, these details elevate No Country for Old Men‘s antagonist beyond the realm of mere psychopathy, instead transforming him into a ruthless and uncompromising agent of fate.
Anton Chigurh Is A Symbol For The Grim Reaper
His Hood-Like Haircut Is A Visual Signifier Of Death
From the start, Anton Chigurh is already more machine than man, killing mercilessly and robotically with little to no emotion. In truth, the emotion he does show throughout No Country for Old Men occurs only when he’s either inflicting harm or gloating over his fated acquisition of the money, as seen during his encounter with Carson Wells (Woody Harrelson).
This anachronistic, out-of-time hairdo only exacerbates his weirdness, making his role as a figure of death all the more believable and terrifying.
Furthermore, Anton speaks frequently of fate and death throughout No Country for Old Men, and this is represented visually through his shaggy, hood-like haircut, which is eerily reminiscent of the Grim Reaper. This anachronistic, out-of-time hairdo only exacerbates his weirdness, making his role as a figure of death all the more believable and terrifying.
The Meaning Behind No Country For Old Men’s Coin Scene
Anton Is A Tool Of Fate As Much As The Coin Is
One of the most famous scenes from No Country for Old Men occurs when Chigurh threatens a lonesome gas station clerk. Upon questioning, Anton becomes disgusted with the clerk’s life story, leading him to challenge the man to call a coin toss for the greatest possible reward — his own survival.
To Anton, the coin represents the greatest possible arbiter of chance, a tool to determine the fates of the just and the unjust alike. In many ways, Chigurh considers himself a tool as much as the coin, a ᴅᴇᴀᴅly instrument of fate that’s as far removed from the barbarity of his actions as the quarter is.
In the end, Anton Chigurh is the perfect villain for a modern Western as dark as No Country for Old Men, whose narrative would be incomplete without the presence of the Grim Reaper-like hitman. Hooded, remorseless, and with complete indifference to his victims, he is the perfect arbitrator of death in a bleak and apathetic world.
