THE THREE BURIALS OF MELQUIADES ESTRADA

Trailer:
The Stats:
Director: Tommy Lee Jones
Cast: Tommy Lee Jones, Barry Pepper, Dwight Yoakam, Melissa Leo
Type: Modern-setting Mexican Tale/Artsy Western-inspired flick
Supercool Trivia: Tommy Lee's directorial debut!
Availability: Amazon US -Amazon UK - Amazon Germany (UK import) - pretty good
The Content:
Checklist:
Impoverished Locale - CHECK! (border areas, rural Mexico)
Tough oldschool Cowboy - CHECK!
Sheriff With Sympathy - CHECK!
Disabled Man Living On His Own - CHECK!
Texas-as-Mexico Landscapes - CHECK!
Sam Peckinpah Homages - CHECK! (primarily Alfredo Garcia)
Old Western Guns In Modern Setting - CHECK! (revolver, lever-action Winchester)
Keeping Your Word To Your Friend - CHECK!
Justice For The Bad Guy - CHECK!
Sleazy Dives 'n' Such - CHECK!
(there's probably some more, but I got distracted in all the cool symbols this time around)
The Review:
Okay, when it comes to "Westerns," one thing we define it as is utilizing one of the most important aspects of its history and one reason the frontier succeeded in this country - a sense of taking justice into one's own hands if necessary, creating a law of your own and making a life for yourself the best you could. For all the trimmings we put on a flick set in the Wild West, this is something that historically is true in most cases and is utilized most often in Western films. Having said that, it's also the main key reason why Three Burials can be called a Western, as this holds up that quality, along with a few more "Western Cliches," high and mighty and damn proud of it. So before we get into the fact that in many ways this is an art film let's get the fact straight - yes, this is a western. Yes, it is set in present day times. Yes, it is also an artsy modern western. But it still counts in my book and it should in yours, too.

So anyway. Three Burials (I'm not gonna type out the whole title that many times and the acronym looks silly (TBME?)) is a story about a Ranch hand (Tommy Lee Jones) who's befriended a Mexican immigrant (Julio Cedillo as Melquiades) and promises that if anything is to happen to Mel on the American plains, for his body to be buried in his hometown of Jimenez. Sure enough, something does happen, and Melquiades is shot down by Border Patrolman Mike Norton (Barry Pepper - stellar as always) in an accidental gunfight, then buried haphazardly to cover up the evidence, and again by the local Sheriffs in the local cemetary.
Pete don't take too kindly to this and once he finds out who done the bad thing of killing his friend, he tracks the man down, kidnaps him, grabs the body, and the two (technically three) set out on horseback towards Mexico and the mythical land of Jimenez.
However, this event is merely one of a sum of reactions to the murder and part of an overall reflection of life by the Mexican border, for people who live in the small towns and in the kind of dead-end lives you really wish nobody had to exist in. As we, the audience, progress through the film it becomes very evident that although there's a very possibly lean story in this premise, the screenwriter Guilliermo Arriaga has a bit more to say about the enviornment and the people who live within such a world.
I know this comes off as quite different from the films I usually discuss here, but this film is one of those unique cases where Cinema becomes Art in the right kind of way - without sacrificing good entertaining storytelling.

With most films with 'western influence,' often they get wrapped up in the story and the plot, sometimes to the point of not having much of a meaning in it. As much as I love Way of the Gun (which I'll be reviewing at a later time), it's obviously all plot and 70s exploitation grit. But in the case of Three Burials, there's a lot to be gleamed from the vibe, characters, and even little scenes that seem like throwaways. If you're someone who wants some meat and substance, you'll definitely get it with this one.
Oh and just for clarification, this film was done awhile back, far enough that it was just before this whole "Immigrant Issue" became really big in the U.S., so it doesn't really try to do any of that "Border" b.s. that a Hollywood Message film of today would. This is a good thing. ^_^
But as great as the script is, telling the first 45 minutes in a Nicholas Roeg style (meaning completely abstract sense of time, keeping events out of order until you work out a chronology in your head) and packing symbols about lack of initiative and having faith, the film also is a visual feast. Tommy Lee Jones, for his first directing gig, does an amazing job of picking crew. The look and texture is hot, sweaty, dirty, and dusty. But even in all its bleak and stressful conditions, there's amazing beauty to be found. Be it the surrealistic shot of Barry Pepper running from his captor in a desert, going from sand to a sudden patch of yellow flowers in one single pan - or the subtlety of just watching a pair of guys on horseback walking across the plains of Texas while the sun sets.
And for all the beauty, the film's also very naturalistic in an almost Cinema Verite fashion for most of the scenes in civilization, letting us really get into the setting of being at the local diner or the grungy trailer park, helping us relate and sympathize with the characters. The editing, cinematography, and general staging of the picture really adds up these elements well, giving an overall presentation that's very enveloping and unique, yet with obvious influences from filmmakers of the past.
As for the performances, how the actors did, we got pretty much quality work across the board. Although Tommy's not always bang-on-the-dot astounding due to being a little distracted, it works for his emotionally wounded and grumpy character who's aged to a point where he probably didn't expect to lose friends in his life anymore. Barry Pepper is astounding as the Patrolman, a jock and popular who's now living "The Job" - a mundane and horrid life where his marriage is nothing more than "I'll drive you to the mall, honey" or "let's have some hump in the kitchen." Barry's freaking fantastic and if you've been a fan of his work since Saving Private Ryan, he's still kicking ass, I must say.

Really, the entire film is pretty A-list, which is one of the benefits of it being an Art film. You may not get your visceral action and you'll probably see scenes that appear tossed in for "shock" value or general grittiness (the sex stuff appeared a bit superflorous on first viewing to me, but I warmed to what it was trying to say), but this is overall the kind of movie that's meant to win awards as well as give the audience something totally unique to experience.
I've been kind of vague in my review here, which I apologize for, but this is a pretty deep and complicated film for it's 2 hour running time. Things like this are hard to estimate, but that's part of what makes them special. You have to be elaborate on them. Hopefully, if you dig the flick, it'll be worthy of some discussion here.

Til next time, gents.

The Images:





(NEXT TIME: Not sure, probably a spaghetti western)