One of the most memorable scenes in the films is Anton Chigurh's
coin toss scenes. From the start of the film we see he is a rather unsavoury
character as in his first ever scene he is being arrested and immediately after
he kills the officer, this is only the begging of his rampage and really sets
the tone for the audience to the sort of type of character Anton how it
will get a lot worse. In his first coin toss scene he is at a
petrol station instituted in a very remote part of the desert. An elderly man
is at the counter and Anton c stalks in looking out of place just as he usually
does in his all black outfit with a hairstyle like no one else's in the film.
The other man however perfectly fits into all the surrounding with a flannel
shirt and Southern accent.
The way it is shot
it sometimes almost seems like a tennis match with over the shoulder shots
going back and forth and both trying succeeding over the other person.
The camera does not really change from over the shoulder shots to
show their argument but when it does it is significant. Fist showing a wrapper
from something Anton has been eating and he puts it on the table and it slowly unravels
showing how he is a predator and that is his victim that he has just devoured
slowly suffering. The man's fate also seems to be chosen as everything
that is in frame around him looks very macabre as there are noose like ropes
above his head and some rather sarcastic smiley face air fresheners next to him Then
another at the very important part of this scene where Anton flips the coin.
Before the man can choose or make a decision to either choose heads or tails it
seems Anton has already decided his fate and his card has been marked. As
it zooms in it shows its importance and how that small coin is deciding his
fate. The man luckily chooses the right side but Anton still seems as though he
may just kill him.
In one of the last
scenes in the film Anton again uses his trusted coin technique to determine
whether he should kill someone and his next Victim is Moss's wife Clara. Anton
already seems like the predator in this scene as he is just sitting in her room
in the dark corner staring at her. The way Clara is dressed it already seems as
though her fate has been made as she is in all black. As he is already sitting
down and Clara is standing up then chooses to sit it makes it seem like she has
higher status and is willing to fight but then surrenders it and goes to his
level.
The lighting around Anton is also lower key than Clara which could
symbolise how he brings death to other characters and is like the
grim reaper.
When Anton tosses
the coin and asks Clara to choose either heads or tails she exclaims that the
coin is not the one that makes the decision. Like before he tosses the coin
before saying what the deal with which brings uncertainty to the character but
the audience are already aware of the game he is playing. When she says that
she will not make the decision Anton gets very hostile and annoyed that she is
not playing along with his game, making it seem like if he decides to kill her
it will be morally wrong for him. It is like no one has ever done this before
and he is does not know what to do.
The way it is shot is similar to the coin scene before as it is close ups on their faces showing their expressions but in this one there are no over the shoulder shots. This is interesting as it makes this scene tenser as we cannot see the other characters reaction while the other one is talking. It also shows the major difference in the lighting as Anton is in the dark and Clara is in the light making it seem like it is a fight between who is right and wrong.
In the end the audience can assume that he has killed her but we do not see any of the action or even hear a shot. As he leaves her house the checks his feet like we have seen him do earlier in the film after deaths to check that there is no blood but as we have seen no action of her being killed so even though she is probably dead there is still some hope that she is alive.
Both of these scenes show how psychotic Anton is and even though he is a very violent character, it seems for him that the violence that he commits is not his decision but more the choice of fate.
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