I read the book, seen the movie just before i finished the book. And finished the book not long ago.
I loved both. The film is majestically and brutally beautiful. The story is heartbreaking and amazing.
The movie has a lot of themes. I'll discuss some of which i know and think....
Freedom - The entire story is based around Texas. Where it is secluded and desalted. Open spaces - full of freedom. Each character is searching for it's own piece of this.
Moss - Finding the money makes him think, wow i live in a trailer and i have nothing. With this i can get the freedom i want. So he takes it. gets his wife to safety. Goes across the state looking to get away from whom is chasing hm. He wants his freedom. To get away form the maniac, to get away from poverty, to get away from the law. From himself...
Carla Jean - She in search of her own freedom, but not in the kind Moss wants. He wants to get away from the life they had. She wanted to get back what they had. She wanted everything to be the way it was. She was happy. There was no greed in her. She represented peace. When he asks her to about the coin. She says no cause unlike people on death row. She has free will. Free will to chose her own destiny. even if it was largely chose for her.
Bell (Sheriff) - he became a law enforcement officer not to hold the world or law in his hands. But to gain the respect from those he considered above him. His family. He sees the world changing into something so much worse than it is. He searches for this moss knowing that all he wants is the freedom to gt out of the world his in. He sees that common ground. The sheriff wants freedom, so he can understand just a little whats happening....
Anyways, i suppose that's just one theme. There are so many others.
But to me the film was great....