When people think of cinematic psychopaths, they’ll typically gravitate toward slasher icons like Jason Voorhees or Michael Myers. After all, they’re known for their lack of remorse, brutal kills and high body counts. However, going by the clinical definition of the word, a 2017 psychiatric study found that the most cinematically accurate portrayal of a psychopath is actually Anton Chigurh from the 2007 Coen Brothers classic, No Country for Old Men.
In the film, Chigurh is a hitman hired to retrieve a bag of money after a drug deal gone wrong. Purely by coincidence, a random civilian stumbles across the money while out hunting, so Chigurh spends a large portion of the film tracking him down. And Chigurh’s psychopathic tendencies are on full display as he interacts with various characters standing in between him and his mission.
Played with an understated menace by Javier Bardem, Chigurh embodies the classic traits of a realistic psychopath. He’s cold, calculating, shows no empathy and is driven by a twisted set of principles. Unlike the comically over-the-top portrayals found in horror films, Chigurh isn’t a mustache-twirling villain who enjoys killing for the sake of it in No Country for Old Men. Rather, he only resorts to killing when people get in his way. Much like how a psychopath would operate in the real world, the last thing Chigurh wants is to draw unnecessary attention to himself.
One of Chigurh’s signature characteristics is his coin. Numerous times in the film, Chigurh comes across an individual and gives them a choice: heads or tails. If they guess correctly, he lets them live with no strings attached and lets them keep the coin. This is one of the defining traits that sets Chigurh apart from other cinematic killers — he has an ideology, and he abides by it. He could easily kill them whether they guess correctly or not, but instead, he chooses to stick by his warped moral code for rationalizing murder.
Another interesting aspect of Chigurh is his choice of weapon. He doesn’t wield a giant machete, nor does he have a custom-made glove with knives for fingers. Instead, he has a simple blot pistol attached to a tank of pressurized air. It’s useful for busting through door locks, but it can also kill someone instantly without leaving behind any evidence. He pulls out a shotgun during firefights, but even then, it’s equipped with a silencer. And it makes perfect sense for a realistic psychopath to emphasize self-preservation and practicality over flamboyant theatrics.
Also, in regards to self-preservation, there’s an entire scene devoted to Chigurh mending his injuries after a shootout. He places Saran Wrap on the ground before examining his wound, takes a bath to clean it and uses tweezers to remove the bullet fragments from his leg before injecting himself with an antibiotic to avoid infection. While this scene on its own does nothing to advance the plot, it gives the audience valuable insight into Chigurh’s thought process. He’s meticulous, cares about his well-being in the long term and is intelligent enough to ensure that there’s no indication he was ever there.
There’s a reason why No Country for Old Men‘s Anton Chigurh frequently appears on several all-time villain lists. It’s not only the fact that he’s a grounded depiction of a psychopath, but he’s also a genuinely unsettling character played to perfection by a phenomenal actor. Unlike Michael Myers or Jason Voorhees, there are high-functioning psychopaths like Anton Chigurh who exist in the real world, and that fact makes him all the more terrifying.
About The Author
