I just had the pleasure of seeing this wholly original modern-day American western. Just when you think you have this film's plot pigeon holed it takes you in a different direction. THREE BURIALS OF MELQUIADES ESTRADA is in part a revenge story, but it's also much more than that. There are no one dimensional characters. As much as you want to hate Barry Pepper's numbed border patrol officer, you can't help but feel sorry for him. And Tommy Lee Jones' Pete will break your heart. He and Pepper have never been better and Jones' direction is natural and subtle. My only problem with the film was sometimes it got a little too quirky for its own good. But for the most part I believed every moment and really cared for these lost characters. It's one of those films that really leaves you thinking about a lot of stuff, from mortality and loss to the very real problems of racism and inhumanity. It's never preachy or self aware and isn't out to impress, it's just telling a story. I highly recommend this movie. It's by far one of the best films I've seen recently.
Add a Review
-
janos45130 November 2005Ay, carramba! A diablo of a marketing challenge: a bilingual movie, with an impossible-to-remember title, a story of white trash, Mexican wetbacks (that's the film's language), cruel Border Patrol "cowboys," and Tommy Lee Jones as the director and the uniquely memorable lead character... and a film that's one of the year's best.
"The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada" opens with a somewhat confusing sequence of flashbacks, and for the first half hour, you wish you were watching something more "orderly," but you'll be hooked anyway. For the next hour and a half, however, there is a crescendo of images and situations hitting the viewer over the head, amazing and moving.
Taking the corpse of a friend - and his very much alive killer - back to Mexico for a "proper burial" and to mete out justice, Jones' voyage is a quirky, epic adventure, based on the brilliant writing of Guillermo Arriaga (of "21 Grams"), and filmed to perfection by Chris Menges (of "The Killing Fields" and "The Mission").
Besides Jones (who won the 2005 Cannes Festival best actor award for this), "3 Burials" features fabulous performances by Barry Pepper ("25 Hours"), Julio Cedillo, and a large group of remarkable supporting actors on both sides of the border.
Jones says something in the production notes that could sound arrogant or affected... except that it's true: "Some visual influences have been the kabuki theater, the art of Donald Judd and Dan Flavin, and the films of Akira Kurasawa, Sam Peckinpah, and Jean-Luc Godard." Amen. -
jotix10021 December 2005"The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada" is a surprise. Directed by Tommy Lee Jones, marking his first time behind the camera, with a screen play by Guillermo Arriaga, this is a film that tells a story about an murder in a troubled border area between the US and Mexico. The film is loosely based on a true story that happened in that part of the country some years ago.
Pete Perkins is a decent man. When his ranch hand is killed under mysterious circumstances, Pete jumps into action. Pete wants to take his friend, Melquiades Estrada, across the border to Mexico to make sure he receives the proper burial he deserves. A coyote has lead to the first burial site and the following investigation involves the local sheriff, Belmont, but Pete will have none of that.
Pete's investigation leads him to the corrupt border guard Mike Norton. Perkins captures the man and with the body strapped to a horse and his captive in another, Pete begins the long journey to Mexico. He passes the hot land between the two countries in a voyage that will bring Melquiades to his home.
The separate narratives at the beginning of the film are somehow confusing and the viewer is advised to pay close attention to it since it has multiple stories going on at a time when we don't know much of what is happening. We get to meet the cruel Norton and his bored wife Lou Ann. It also serve as the way to tell us how Pete and Norton meet.
Tommy Lee Jones, with his rugged looks, brings a tremendous presence to his own film. Mr. Jones is a decent man who can't stand the injustice his hired hand suffered as he delves into solving the mystery of Melquiades' death. Barry Pepper is quite good as the nasty Mike Norton, a man who gets much more than what he bargained for. Dwight Yoakam, January Jones and Melissa Leo are seen in minor roles. Julio Cedillo plays the dead man, Melquiades Estrada.
Tommy Lee Jones is blessed to be working on his first venture with the great cinematographer Chris Menges. Mr. Menges' take on the scenery is one of the best things in the film. The musical score by Marco Beltrami is also another asset. The editing of Roberto Silvi sets the tone for the early part of the movie.
"The Three Deaths of Melquiades Estrada" shows us a mature Tommy Lee Jones who has learned his lesson well in front of the camera. Now, working behind, as well as directing himself and his amazing cast, he shows a humongous talent that ought to be seen in future ventures. -
gtzam22 November 2005The "Three burials of Melquiades Estrada" is a multi-layered story of death, retribution, loneliness, and remembrance. Although it takes place in modern day Texas, its main character Pete Perkins, superbly played by Tommy Lee Jones, seems to be living resolutely in the past. He is determined to seek justice for his best friend's death and forces the guy responsible for to a journey across the borders in Mexico to locate the village of the deceased for a proper burial. This journey will bring forward the stark contrast between the values of two ways of life and the landscape transversed is both geographical and emotional.
Modern civilization throughout the film is mainly represented by 4WD cars, sniper rifles, dinners, shopping malls, trailers, and TV-sets incessantly showing soap operas, while the characters revelling into those manifestations are invariably emotionally numb, disaffected people, trapped to a perfunctory life from which they seem unable or unwilling to escape. Concomitantly the values of the old west, based on friendship, loyalty and commitment have ebbed, though they are still existent as embodied by the relationship of Pete with his best friend. Pete is forced to pursue his own sense of justice after being repeatedly scorned by the contemptuous behavior of the authorities towards him and his demand for rightful punishment of the culprit, a cool, violence prone and emotionally detached border-guard.
The story is masterly told in a sturdy manner that perfectly serves the complexity of the excellent screenplay by an apposite use of flashbacks and wonderfully shot sequences. All the performances are top notch in their expressive minimalism, greatly contributing to the lasting emotional impact of this outstanding film. -
MacAindrais14 February 2006The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada(2005) ****
Tommy Lee Jones steps up to the plate and takes a big first swing with 'Three Burials.' This is a movie that captures the old Peckinpah-esquire style of the rugged west and combines wonderfully with Guillermo Arriaga's moody and alienated script. This is a film that could have took a political mood and dealt with the issues of border security and the like, but it smartly refrains from doing so and instead focuses sharply on the heart of society itself - people.
Tommy Lee Jones plays Pete, a rancher who has few friends with his closest friends being a woman from town, and a man from Mexico. The woman is the wife of a local diner owner, Rachael (Melissa Leo). She also happens to be extremely bored and engages in extramarital affairs. Pete loves her, but she loves her husband. And possibly the sheriff, and possibly Pete. The other emotional connection in Pete's life, the Mexican, is Melquiades Estrada (Julio Cedillo), an illegal immigrant who finds work and friendship with Pete. Pete loves him like a son, or a brother, or friend, or a combination of all three. Barry Pepper plays Mike, the new border patrolman in town. He is brutal. Perhaps by nature, or not. He is bored; he passes the time sitting outside of his jeep looking at dirty mags. His wife, Lou Ann (January Jones), is also bored. She feels isolated and separated from her husband. She spends her time at the local diner and befriends Rachael. While she sits at home, her husband, the rookie border patrolman, makes a stupid mistake and tries in vain to hide it. The whole town is bored, even the police and the border guards. They find out, the police find out, and in a small town people talk, but more importantly people listen because they have nothing else to do. Pete finds out about Mike's mistake and sets out to carry out Mel's last wishes and bury him in his home town back in Mexico.
The story has its characters and connects them in ways that we don't always suspect they will connect. No one is a cardboard cut out. Even better, no one is simple. Each character is complex and has their own distinct feelings. A major theme is that of alienation. The characters are alienated not only from each other, but from themselves as well. Earlier i stated that he film took the right road and avoids making a blatant political message. The movie still carries a message though. It is a commentary on life and society.
The story has parallels to Peckinpah's 'Bring me the Head of Alfedo Garcia.' It has a very Peckinpah style, and features a man who makes a long journey with a dead body. He cares for it and tries to preserve it, even talks to the body sometimes. The film has some great cinematography as well, and the score suits it perfectly. The acting is wonderful, and I have to say that Tommy Lee Jones has rarely ever been better than he is here. Barry Pepper also gives a solid performance. This is Tommy Lee Jones first directing credit in major film and he knocks this one out of the park. Jones clearly has a strong control of his movie and this should go down in history as one of those rare first time wonders.
4/4 -
olethrosdc30 December 2005This movie not only has some of the best acting I've seen in a while; but also it features a full cast of interesting characters - from the protagonists to random encounters, each one seems... to exist somewhere beyond the screen. Top notch photography, emotionally wrenching, dealing with complex issues of today's society and depicting everything unashamedly, this movie is simply awesome. Every little detail seems to have been worked at, pondered over and hammered out until it was just perfect. Every single character is memorable. Every single shot is beautiful. I could simply find no flaws with it.
While some may find the subject of the movie distasteful, I found the manner in which it is approached to be just perfect. There are of course clichés - these are inevitable. But the attention to detail brings this movie to such heights of perfection that you cannot help but twist your face into a satisfying grin while the movie is on, and for much time afterwards. -
bbrown88701 December 2007I liked this movie a lot, but after reading the critics and many of the comments herein, I can't believe I'm the only one with some nits to pick.
Strengths
1. CINEMATOGRAPHY. If you've ever visited the Southwest, you know that it's difficult to represent accurately on film. Kudos. TTBOME is accurate to the countryside depicted and panoramically beautiful.
2. ACTING. Although Barry Pepper will always be Roger Maris to me, he is easy to hate here and then even easier to be ambivalent about later. Pepper makes a great hostage. Melissa Leo nails the role of Rachel. Nearly everyone else is superb.
3. NUANCE. Why make everything in black and white? The world is beautiful with shades of meaning and so is TTBOME.
4. THOUGHT PROVOCATION. This isn't a kids'movie, but not for the reasons the rating states. My wife called it a "thinking an's 'Weekend At Bernie's'". You do have to think about a lot of things:
a. Roles. Do we like who we are? Do we like what we do? where we live? what others think of us?
b. Racism. Is everyone you meet of Mexican origin undocumented? How about the reverse? Are the bad guys now always the gringos?
c. Economics. If it is so beautiful, friendly, peaceful, musical, and well-fed, would so many south of the border risk all they have to come north of the border and "pick strawberries"? On the other hand, if I lived in Van Horn, Texas, I'd be looking to escape to anywhere else. Seriously.
d. Endurance. Could you survive this trek? I wouldn't make it 100 yards without shoes.
There are other strengths. Refer to the other reviews.
Weaknesses
1. CHARACTER BUILDING. We are given very little reason to believe that Pete would do this for anyone. We are asked to believe that he is deep, e.g., thousand-yard gazes, fierce loyalty, rugged determination; but also shallow, e.g., dalliance with a married woman, gullibility, disrespect for the law. We may like nuance in a movie, but who is the protagonist? Pete is a weak one, considering the milieu he came out of. If he were a match for the country, we'd be cheering for him like Shane.
2. CHRONOLOGY. Stupid! Unnecessary! Contrived! Distracting! Egotistical! Stupid. A poor substitute for character good building.
3. LOGIC.
a. Lou Ann's relationship with Mike adds nothing to the story. He is central and we already have enough to dislike him.
b. Rachel's loyalty to Bob strains at reason. He loyalty to anything is questionable.
c. Gomez' willingness to cut a quick deal with Belmont has no history to back it up.
d. Why is Rachel able to hear every syllable through glass?
e. Lack of conversation between Mike and Pete. If you thought coming clean would buy you your life or even some more time, you'd talk your head off.
f. Cincinnati? That hotbed of INS recruitment?
4. ACTING. Dwight Yoakam will not be offered leading man roles. He's already found his shtick and this isn't it. Tommy Lee's performance as Pete would benefit from a more seasoned director. Joel Coen comes to mind.
5. LENGTH. This could have been over sooner. You especially know that when there are long silences in the commentary version with three good commentators.
6. BIZARRE COINCIDENCE. Am I the only one who thinks Cedillo looks like Johnny Damon? Couldn't shake it.
7. ROTTING CORPSE. OK, we get it. He's a dead guy.
8. CREDIBILITY.
a. Snake bites kill. They really, really kill people weakened by travel, forced labor, deprivation, and lack of a hat in the desert.
b. Law enforcement is not that venal. Venal, yesjust not THAT venal or impotent.
c. Also, which is it? Sheriff and I.N.S. work together or they don't?
d. Sixty grand for a single-wide in Van Horn? Fifty-four? Got to assume that this is prior to the current realty reality.
e. Man #1 is shot by Man #2. By wild cinematic coincidence, Man #1 has been indiscreet with the wife of Man #2, but only because Man #3 has induced him to do so? The mind boggles.
f. How exactly were three distant cowpokes watching soaps they couldn't understand, with excess food they freely give away?
SPOILER. The movie's title gives away the ending. -
gramos3022 October 2020As a Mexican American myself and with Spanish being my first language , I hate when they portray Mexicans or any Hispanics for that matter , with phony accents that I just don't buy. Most of the times I'm irritated to the point I can't enjoy the movie. IN THIS INSTANCE HOWEVER , I was highly impressed with the whole cast, especially Tommy lee Jones's Spanish . INCREDIBLE!! I always saw him as a respectable actor , but he truly won me over with his performance in this movie . Also the plot twists thru out the whole movie are intriguing . This is a movie well worth watching !
-
dead475489 January 2008A bit of a disappointment since I was expecting it to be one of the best films of 2005, but it still ended up being a gritty and superbly-acted modern western. The film is split into four acts, but it's really just two halves. The first half is interesting, yet it jumps around too much between characters and time periods that one gets completely lost and begins to misunderstand where he's even at in the film's sequence of events. The second half is completely linear but ends up being very dull and filled with meaningless plot devices like a snake bite and an old, blind man who just wants someone to kill him. But don't get me wrong, the film definitely has it's fair share of good points as well. The acting is superb. Everyone from Tommy Lee Jones to Barry Pepper to January Jones are incredible, though none of them really shines above the rest of the cast. The cinematography is also top-notch and does a great job of setting up the ambiance and scenery for a film as bleak and dull in tone as the life of a border patrolman is. Overall it's just a run of the mill film that tries some new tricks with the screenplay and completely gives that up in the second half, for good reason.
-
auberus2 December 2005The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada is for me the film that saved 2005. Written by Guillermo Arriaga, also writer of "Amores Perros" and "21 grams" and the first movie of Tommy Lee Jones as a director (but also lead actor), "The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada" tells the story of Ranch hand Pete Perkins (Tommy Lee Jones) who wants to fulfill the promise he made to his recently deceased Mexican friend by burying him in his hometown in Mexico. The power of this modern western and initiatic journey resides in the complexity of the characters, their depth and their controversial behavior. None of the protagonists are one dimensional; none of them are right or wrong but all of them do right and wrong things. They are not always rational, and most of the time they feel lost. In one word they all appear profoundly human. Build over a chase dynamic fueled with contrasts and paradoxes, the film opposes Wild West landscape and Modern carton built houses, 4WD tracking hunt and horse back journey, fake TV soaps and true friendship but maybe most of all Freedom and Prison. Indeed most if not all characters are trapped in their apathetic lives from which they can't or don't want to escape forcing us to ask ourselves how close is our lives to the spectacle projected in front of our eyes. Melquiades Estrada embodies this possibility of Escape and now that he has been buried 3 times he transcends this Freedom making redemption possible not only through death but also through rebirth, suggesting that nobody is beyond it.
-
claudio_carvalho27 January 2007In Texas nearby the border of Mexico, the newcomer arrogant border patrolman Mike Norton (Barry Pepper) mistakenly kills the Mexican cowboy Melquiades Estrada (Julio César Cedillo) and buries him in the desert. When Melquiades's body is accidentally found one week later, his best friend, the ranch foreman Pete Perkins (Tommy Lee Jones), claims the body to fulfill his promise and bury Melquiades in his hometown Jimenez and presses the local sheriff Belmont (Dwight Yoakam) to find the killer. However, Melquiades is not delivered to Pete because he is not his relative, and his body is reburied in the local cemetery. When Pete discloses the identity of the killer, he kidnaps Mike and forces him to dig the grave and bring the body to Melquiades's family in Mexico. While in their journey to Mexico, the sad reality of the hopeless Mexicans that live in the proximity of the border with USA is disclosed.
"The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada" is a weird movie, developed in low pace and non-chronological. It was not clear for me the relationship between the bored Lou Ann Norton, played by the gorgeous January Jones, with Melquiades. Has she become a whore, working in the place owned by Rachel and Bob, or was she only bored looking for fun? The situation of the poor Mexican people living in that no man's land and the stereotypical alienation and arrogance of the border patrolmen are also very impressive. In the end, the loyalty of Pete for his friend Melquiades and the never corny redemption of Mike make this film worthwhile. My vote is seven.
Title (Brazil): "Três Enterros" ("Three Burials") -
cadillacdesert9 February 2006As if we were being thrown smack in the middle of a Cormac McCarthy novel, >>Three Burials<< powerfully serves up the borderlands milieu through its bipolar texture and tone: both graphic and dreamy, tragic and comical. That fusion is accented by memorable characters and age-old themes: immigration and the Rio Grande; Spanish and English and Spanglish; violence and personal relationships; coyotes and border patrol; a tired waitress with a Chekhovian longing and an inept sheriff with nervous problems; a young, blonde wife terribly out of place, and an aging, rugged cowboy firmly in place (>>Ride the High Country<<, anyone?). Finally, the film centers on a classically picaresque story of personality development through trials and tribulations: Pete (Tommy Lee Jones), on a flashback-laden quest for his own way of justice, dragging along the rapidly disintegrating corpse of his friend, brings about the personal journey of a trigger-happy, macho-racist border patrol officer (played by Barry Pepper) from guilt to redemption... Wonderfully borderlands, comparable to >>Lone Star<<. Watch it.
-
At times 21 Grams others Don Quixote. A meaningless killing, leads to three burials and a quest with a corpse through Mexico, Arriaga(the screenwriter here, formerly of Babel, Ammores Perros, 21 Grams) as always weaves in themes both global and personal, political and poetic, with a skill and restraint not often seen. Ostensibally a modern western, this film shares with those others an ostensibly simple event told through a variety of chronologies and characters, great stuff. As with those other films it does tend to have a slow pace, but it does so give the viewer a grander scenic sense of the landscape Arriaga and Tommy Lee Jones, who direction should not be overlooked, unfold for us, a literate, mindful, grossly underrated modern western which manages to say many powerful things about the world today and human life in general.
-
gnadfly12 March 2006********** Many Spoilers, Many Flaws *************** The premise of the movie is a Border Patrol agent, Norton, isn't too fond of illegal aliens and kills one. Pete, the title character's slaughtered friend, finds out its Norton and takes him and the body on a journey to bury him in Estrada's home village.
Problem: The killing was just a bad accident. Its pretty apparent the agent had remorse but panicked and hid the deed along with his Border Agent buddies. The Border Patrol are portrayed as two dimensional bumbling racists while the Mexicans are kindhearted, trying to survive. Although Hollywood wants you to believe in the dignity of their fellow man there is none for the Border Patrol. Norton is never really given a chance to explain what happened to Pete.
Problem: The promise that Estrada makes Pete keep in the event of his death is based on a lie that cheapens the characters involved and doesn't make sense. My guess it pushes the movie over the 1:30 mark.
Problem: There is multiple POV versions of a couple of scenes that don't really differ. I'm tired of this cinema trick and its useless here except to push the movie over 1:30.
Best Part: Levon Helm as the blind hermit. This is BY FAR the best and most "insightful" part of the movie. Dwight Yoakum's performance is also good but Levon steals the movie.
BIG Problem: Tommy Lee Jones has no range. He has an unsympathetic constant deadpan delivery. Shouldn't be allowed to carry a movie.
Wait for it to come out on video. Finally, for those who hype the "new Western" such as this film and Brokeback Mountain, rent "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance." This shows real conflict, heroism, friendship and sacrifice. Also, "Shane" for the breathtaking scenery. -
PersianPlaya4089 July 2006Tommy Lee Jones' film about a rancher (Jones) who keeps his promise to his friend and co-worker Melquiades Estrada who wanted to be buried in his homeland in Mexico. The film is slow at times, but gets it point across well, and I believe those instances in the film where not much is going on actually help it in order to put things in perspective for us viewers. The cinematography is artistically beautiful, while the score, screenplay from Guillermo Arriaga (who also appears in the film) and the performancer are first-rate. Amazing how films like this go virtually overlooked in the press and eyes of mainstream American cinema-goers. This film deserves to get all the nomination and award hype that less worthy stuff like Brokeback mountain or even Walk the line have received. This is a true masterpiece from Tommy Lee Jones, who proves hes just as credible in directing as in acting. 10/10
-
Malte00629 December 2005The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada
Directed by Tommy Lee Jones (2005)
I have always liked Tommy Lee Jones as an actor. He has made some really great performances in the movies JFK, Heaven & Earth, and The Fugitive. And otherwise he has always been good, although he got some typecast in some stereotype roles. In 1995 he debuted as a director on TV, with the movie The Good Old Boys, which I sadly haven't seen. Now, he has joined some of his famous and acknowledged colleges like Clint Eastwood, Mel Gibson, Denzel Washington, and made the step from actor, to actor & director in his own very first motion picture - The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada.
In this movie, Tommy plays the lead as Pete Perkins, who under some mysterious circumstances, finds out that his best friend has got killed. As a consequence of this, he reacts strong and dramatically, wanting to fulfil his old promise to his, now gone, friend.
The script is written by Guillermo Arriaga, and he mixes the characters and the beautiful landscape into an original story, dealing with many subjects. As said before, the movie is beautifully filmed and good edited. Aside from the director, the shooting star Barry Pepper delivers another very good and solid performance! He is a very good actor, which I hope to see a lot from in the future
All in all a solid, and good piece of movie craft from Tommy Lee Jones, which I know respect more than ever!
8/10 -
ma-cortes16 February 2007This above average film concerns Pete Perkins , a foreman (Tommy Lee Jones) from a Texas town , nearly the Mexican border . There also lives a violent patrolman called Mike (Barry Pepper) , along with his embittered wife (J. Jones) . When his pal , Melquiades (Cedillo) , is murdered , he is rapidly buried . But Perkins pulls off the promise his best friend bringing him at his natal village , called Jimenez . Then , he decides the kidnapping of the arrogant policeman . After the second burial into a public graveyard , he claims the body that is tied to a mule and along with the patrolman start a dangerous journey to Mexico pursued by the patrol chief (Dwight Yokoam) .Nobody is beyond redemption. For justice. For loyalty. For friendship.
This enjoyable film is a touching and violent drama with elevated cinematographic values . The protagonist results to be a ¨Quixote¨ who obstinately undertakes a perilous journey whose objective looks to fulfill the promise by whatever means . The movie realizes an awesome actors ' reunion , showing the different characters and explores their apprehension , ambitions , fears and circumstances . Intelligent and thoughtful screenplay by Guillermo Arriaga (21 grams , dog loves) . The screenplay was written in Spanish by Guillermo Arriaga but was translated in to English by Tommy Lee Jones . Director/Actor Jones gave each cast member a copy of Albert Camus' "The Stranger" to read so that they would understand alienation , a big theme in both the novel and the film . Sensitive and evocative musical score by Marco Beltrani (Red eye) . The film is a nice co-production , being produced , among others , by the great producer and director French Luc Besson . Special mention for glimmer and fascinating cinematography by Chris Menges (Pledge , Michael Collins) and occasionally director (World apart , Criss cross) , he splendidly reflects impressive outdoors from Texas border and Mexico . Tommy Lee Jones won a deserved prize in Cannes , being his theatrical directing debut , his only other directing credit was the TV movie Good old boys (1995) . Tommy Lee Jones's acting and direction is magnificent . Much of the movie was shot on Tommy Lee Jones's own ranch . Remaining cast is frankly excellent with terrific performances (Pepper , Jones , Melissa Leo) . Rating : Better than average . Well worth watching , it's a must see for Tommy Lee Jones enthusiasts. -
One of the most overlooked masterpieces of the last decade nothing against "No Country For Old Men", but I'd rather trade 'Art' for the unforgettable journey to which Tommy Lee Jones invites us in this modern Neo-Western film "The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada".
First, what a title! It could mislead by making you believe it's some kind of symbolism, but from the first minutes of the film, you understand that Melquiades is the name of the unfortunate odyssey's hero, and that he's dead. There's no way to resurrect him, but there will be three ways to bury him, understand: to prepare his soul for the last voyage. Burials in human civilizations have always carried a powerful meaning; it's a sign of respect, a way to honor those who are not with us anymore. And Death is not a barrier, when it's a matter of respect and honor.
The pacing of the first act is quite slow, conveying with efficiency an atmosphere of boredom and meaninglessness. The movie is set in a small town in the Tex-Mex border whose natural geography offers perfect opportunities for emigrants, to enter illegally. So the town is regulated by the eternal cycle of Mexicans trying to penetrate the frontier and border patrol trying to catch them. This is the town's routine outside while inside, people try to fill their time, by sunbathing, watching insipid soap operas, and banging the restaurant owner's wife, Rachel, Melissa Leo, sexy as ever. There's a feeling of a ghost town where the only living people are actually the cowboys, the only ones who domesticate the wildness and hostility of the place as they do for bulls and horses. They are the present, incarnating both a remaining connection with the past and a light of hope for the future. And this universe is Pete and Mel's routine, two friends, a veteran cow-boy with a stone face and a heart of gold, and a young 'vachero' who wants to work in what he does the best. The friendship between Pete and Mel is crucial as it will cement Pete's feeling of duty, when Mel will be accidentally killed. It's not a revenge story, this is no film for clichés, it's always about respect. It's a man's film that would have made proud the late Sam Peckinpah.
And it's interesting to note, how like some old westerns, the movie almost associates the idea of virility with the cowboy world, while the other men seem to lack this quality. The town is governed by boredom, by a sort of emasculating nothingness. The restaurant owner is the most notorious cuckold in town, but the lovers are not the fastest guns in town either ... or they are. It's ironic that in a comic relief scene, the chief police, Belmont, the one who's got the power, has sexual troubles, the kind that affects his self-confidence. But it's a good premonition of the Police's impotence in Melquiades' case, convincing Pete to do the vigilante and we sure trust him that he'll handle the case better than Belmont, as he proved to handle Rachel quite better. Let the men tackle this. Still, Melquiades is pictured as a timid man with girls. His apparent sweetness makes his death even sadder, especially because the border patrol guy who killed him, Mike Norton, is a totally opposite character.
Mike Norton is a selfish insecure scumbag who visibly hates his life. Indeed, there's something bitter in his whole attitude, and it's hard to believe he was popular once. Barry Pepper plays perfectly the man who constantly vents his anger on the others, not hesitating to punch in the face a Mexican girl who was running away, not the likeliest character to inspire our sympathy. And it's not his sordid sex scene with Lou Ann, his wife played by January Jones, that would contradict this feeling. Pepper as Norton was outstanding and I can't go without mentioning when after cutting his nail toes, he did what I expected him to do. Gross, but authentic. His lack of virile satisfaction fills his life with a boredom he can only satisfy it with the help of a Hustler magazine. Pathetic but also tragic as this will lead to the accidental killing.
I took my time to get to the point, but so did the film that needed a long prologue before the odyssey started. Like "The Godfather", it had the time to present the characters, and like "The Godfather", it's about an evolution, not a corruption this time, but a redemption. The story starts when the flash-backs end, and when taking Norton as a hostage, Pete will order him to dig up Mel's corpse in order to bury him in Mexico, in his hometown. Two men and a corpse guiding them, the corpse is still present as if Mel was alive, as if his soul wasn't in peace yet, and this is the whole point: saving souls. Pete has a duty as friend, Mel had to be respected, and Mike was offered an opportunity to redeem himself. In their route, they'll meet a blind man asking them to kill him, he doesn't want to commit suicide, not to offend God, but neither does Pete. They'll meet the Mexican girl who'll show Norton the other side of the mirror, and teach him one thing or two about respect.
And at the end, there's Norton, the soul of this film who, through a nightmarish journey, will repent of his acts asking Mel's soul to forgive him in one of the most emotional breakdowns ever, that decided Pete to finally release his prisoner as his initiation was over. One of the greatest masterpieces of the 2000's, sublimated by a dazzling cinematography, "The Three Burials" is a true gem that should have earned many Oscar nominations including one for Barry Pepper, who proved through Norton that it's never too late to change, for the better -
thinkstorm28 April 2008What a clever and satisfying film. If you like Cormac McCarthy - this original story in a setting similar to No Country For Old Men - is a treat. It's like finding a genuine Rolex in a dumpster of crappy watches.
Tommy Lee Jones captures the rawhide quirkiness of saddle-men - vaqueros - cowboys. That face of his is art (OK not-so-pretty) in motion.
It's a redemption story without moralizing or preaching.
Give it a serious look. It's a beautifully shot, well told and rewarding film. -
This is a great modern western that is perfectly directed by legendary actor Tommy Lee Jones who also plays the main role of cowboy pete.
The cinematography is beautiful as expected with gorgeous scenery & a nice musical score.
The story of redemption is told well & the spiritual journey is funny & harsh but all so well told that IT'S a relaxing comforting movie.
But the standout part of this entire arty western movie is the excellent but extremely underrated BARRY PEPPER!!!
Pepper is one hell of an actor!!!
His performance as soulless idiot border patrol officer Mike Norton who accidentally shoots & kills a close cowboy friend of Pete is absolutely Brilliant in this movie.
This is his story & journey just as much as Pete's & pepper gives it his all in this role & is emotional & angry & tortured wreck he should have gotten some sort of an award because Pepper's performance is BRILLIANT.
Mike is a troubled character as he's a wannabe tough guy who likes to be in control but loses everything & has to really find his soul again & truly find himself & become a better person. Although he shot a man dead he's extremely upset about it & that shows he's not an evil man & it was an accident he just messed up big time but he's not a cold blooded killer so his capture by cowboy pete turned vigilante outlaw is worthy of that journey of redemption. It's fun watching him carry around the body of the man he killed!!!
All the characters are very damaged & lost & live in a very quiet, boring & lonely part of texas, it's a very modern western setting & they're all lonely & that's the atmosphere of this clever movie that you feel, the atmosphere of desperation & loneliness. "Three Buriels" does have a low-budget indie quality to it that just adds to it's dusty & rundown look. The budget doesn't matter at all because the movie is a journey accross harsh landscapes that take-in all the rugged beauty of the natural environment so no need for any sort of CGI or trickery. Everything you see is really there in the gorgeous cinematography. Yes this is a rugged, tragic & meaningful modern western.
There's humour & heartfelt moments & truly outstanding performances & yes of course the rugged cranky Tommy Lee Jones is excellent as he always is.
A beautiful looking modern western expertly directed by a Hollywood legend but the whole show is stolen by the incredible performance by Barry Pepper. -
mrtimlarabee14 February 2008With Estrada's dead body in tow, cattle rancher Pete Perkins, played by Tommy Lee Jones, takes a border patrol man named Mike Norton to where Estrada lived and asks Norton look at Estrada's plate, drink out of his cup, and where his clothes. Pete wants Mike to see what an injustice he's done. It's a violent kind of poetry that's felt throughout the film.
Tommy Lee Jones directs and stars in this film. The film begins simply enough, with the view of Estrada's body, dead from a gunshot wound. We are introduced to rookier border patrol officer Mike Norton, played by Barry Pepper, and his young wife. They arrive in Texas from Cincinatti. Norton obviously lacks experience at his trade and shows violent and cowardly tendencies doing his job.
There is a non linear quality to the film. It flashes back and forth, tracing the friendship between Pete and Estrada, an illegal Mexican immigrant. This part of the film can seem a little slow, though important. When we see Estrada's death and learn of his killer, the journey begins where Pete sets out to give his friend a proper burial.
This is also where the film moves from standard drama to a surreal, Pekinpah like journey. Think "Bring me the Head of Alfredo Garcia," where Bennie talked to the head and gave it a shower. "Garcia" was a violent road film, but some scenes remind me of that film. "Three Burials" is more poetic.
In the end, we have a film that deals with friendship, justice, and a sense of loneliness felt by more than one character in the film. We also get a classic semi tense road picture, between Texas and Mexico. While the journey's no match for Jones' turn in "No Country for Old Men," this film blends emotional drama with a dark somewhat violent western. -
Boba_Fett113818 September 2006This movie is an unique and original one. There never has been really a movie like "The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada" before. It's a daring and creative theatrical directing debut from Tommy Lee Jones, that only works halve as successful as it perhaps could have had.
But its uniqueness is also were the the main problem with this movie lays. It's hard to know how to watch this movie. The movie starts off as a mostly serious thriller about a murder committed in Texas, close to the Mexican border. Later the movie turns more into a quirky comedy and eventually the movie also becomes an 'Odyssey' like adventure movie. It's really not the most consistent movie ever made with also doesn't make this the easiest or most pleasant movie to watch.
The movie also doesn't make things easy for itself. The movie is partly told non-linear with occurrence put in that happened before the killing of Melquiades Estrada. All those moments seem pretty randomly put in the movie which does make the movie unnecessary confusing and hard to follow.
Sad thing is that "The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada" could had been a really great and above all fun movie to watch, had it only been made in one continues style (the adventurous comical one). That way i'm sure I would had really enjoyed watching this movie. I also certainly enjoyed this movie now already for what it was but I just couldn't help thinking throughout the movie how great this movie would had been if it had only been entirely just like its last 30 minutes or so.
I understood the movie and its deeper layers and meanings about redemption and friendship but still that doesn't mean that I enjoyed the movie.
The movie has some good actors in it but still they can't prevent the characters in this movie from being pretty bland and distant. Their fine and professional performance doesn't bring the story and characters enough to life. Not even Tommy Lee Jones, who normally always is an actor that can carry a movie, even if he only plays a small part in it.
Sure, the movie is still entertaining and creatively original enough to consider this a good movie to watch but it also is a movie with lots of missed opportunities. Let's hope Jones has learned from the mistakes he made with this movie and may his next movie be as brilliant as this movie potentially could had been.
6/10
http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/ -
WARNING - THIS REVIEW DISCUSSES THE ENDING There are some films that you just don't know what to make of at first. The Western period or otherwise remains the definitive genre for portraying warped morality plays packed with layered themes and dense symbolism, but I found this one more difficult than many. I feel that to appreciate a film I have to get to grips with the leading players' motivations, but in a film where the supposed hero is a lunatic who's blown an unremarkable event up to absurd levels, what am I supposed to do? The answer is to constantly ask questions about the film. The Three Burials Of Melquiades Estrada offers no particular answers of its own, but it remains accommodating to whichever possibilities you wish to assign it. The lead question, of course, is what has driven Pete Perkins (Tommy Lee Jones) to such extreme measures. Whether the attitude of Patrolman Norton (Barry Pepper) ever actually changes is another obvious one. But this is a film on which obvious answers to obvious questions are only going to shed a limited amount of light. Why, for example, the cuts back to the dessicated border town, where the citizens have no way to pass the time except to sit in a diner and smoke, or to have casual sex with people in motel rooms? Most importantly, what would Pete do if Melquiades (Julio Cedillo) had been buried in a pauper's grave having died of a heart attack? In the end I came away very impressed, but still feeling that I'd missed many of the nuances.
The first half of the film uses complex chronological fragmentation to give the viewer an immense amount of information in a small space of time, by allowing us (for example) to observe an event knowing what its consequences are going to be. It also disrupts any sense of empathy by not allowing us to watch the characters' emotions progress in a linear fashion; in a sense, these early scenes become semi-independent vignettes. They allow us to identify early on what turns out (retrospectively, to the characters) to be a key scene: a promise that rancher Pete makes to his illegal immigrant labourer Melquiades to take his body home should he die in America. This fateful conversation takes a central role in Pete's motivations when Melquiades is later accidentally shot and killed by pig-headed border patrolman Mike Norton in a moment of carelessness. When Pete learns who killed his friend, and realises that the local police don't plan to do anything about it, he decides to take matters into his own hands.
So far so good. But Pete's idea of revenge is anything but simple. It's not enough to gun down Mike, as Mike did Melquiades. Mike must be shriven. He must suffer in the desert. He must realise exactly what he did. As his estranged wife Lou Ann (January Jones) lounges in a diner muttering through her ennui that her husband is "beyond redemption", he is busy atoning for his sins (albeit against his will) by returning the festering corpse of his accidental victim back to his home village. If my use of religious terms seems pretentious, then I'd like to point out that there's a scene where Mike is dunked in a river. Admittedly he's dragged through it by a horse, but I never claimed that allusions have to be airtight. We don't like Mike, but we grow to sympathise with him. He's certainly closer to being redeemed at the end of the film than Lou Ann is. That might just be what drives Pete to his extreme course of action, of kidnapping Mike, digging up Melquiades and carrying them both off on horseback towards Mexico: however insane, at least someone in the town is actually doing something. As such the old man in the desert, begging to be euthanised, becomes a weird, living prophecy of the town's future; he could easily be all that's left of a similarly dead town, in a symbolic sense at least.
What takes the film deeper into surrealism is the ending, where it is revealed that Melquiades, to an unknown extent and for unknown reasons, has lied to Pete. The little village of Jiménez, where he wanted to be buried, doesn't exist. The woman he claimed was his wife is nothing of the sort, and cannot understand how Pete has come to possess a photograph of herself and her children. As it happens this is only a minor setback for Pete, who quickly locates a suitable spot out in the hills that looks about right based on the background of the photograph he's got. And like that, with Melquiades's final burial, the film is virtually over. It just lingers on the face of Norton, whose brutal "lesson" is now complete, asking the departing Pete if he'll be okay. He has gone from the film's least sympathetic character to it's virtual hero, a man who made a terrible error through thoughtlessness and was made to pay for it in the most painful way possible. A satisfying transition to watch.
The Three Burials Of Melquiades Estrada is a grotesque and extremely complicated portrait of a madman out to do the right thing in a world where right and wrong have been hopelessly skewed. This meaty concept is what makes it such a satisfying film, and why there's still very little that can top a good Western. -
evanston_dad17 November 2006Movie audiences have always loved a good revenge story, and never more so than since 9/11. We can't get retribution for the wrongs committed against us in the real world, so we look for it in our movie theatres.
Tommy Lee Jones adds another to the long line of revenge fables that have appeared in the last few years, and the results are mostly lacklustre. However, his film adds a refreshing twist to the standard revenge formula, and that if nothing else makes his film memorable.
Jones stars as Pete, a taciturn cowboy living out in the middle of nowhere (aka Texas), who befriends an illegal Mexican immigrant, Melquiades. When Melquiades is shot and killed by a hot-head border patrol guard named Mike Norton(Barry Pepper), Pete kidnaps him and, the body of Melquiades in tow, heads for Mexico, where he intends to honor his promise to his friend and bury him in his home town. Norton suspects Pete's ultimate plan is to kill him in revenge, but the aforementioned refreshing twist is that Pete really just wants Norton to ask for forgiveness for his wrongs; more killing is not what Pete has in mind.
This is a promising idea, but the promise is not fulfilled. The movie starts strongly, with bits and pieces told in an out of whack chronology, and a host of other characters introduced whose roles in the story we wait to discover: a local police officer and friend to Pete (Dwight Yoakam), a waitress in a diner and mistress to Pete (Melissa Leo), the young and bored wife of Norton (January Jones). But sadly, all of these characters dissolve from the movie (the women especially) to make way for Pete and Norton's grotesque journey for the border, that's equal parts "As I Lay Dying" and Homer's "Odyssey" (Jones even works in a meaningless sequence with a blind man who comes to the pair's aid). The characters of Pete and Norton remain frustratingly opaque, and neither of them changes much over the course of the film. The progressively disintegrating corpse of Melquiades is used to ghoulishly comic effect, but that disrupts the tone of the story. And Jones uses a heavy hand to address the racism between Mexicans and whites that exists as a constant state of affairs in that part of the country. I suppose Jones's message about the nobility of the Mexican race is aimed at those who need to hear it, but those who need to hear it wouldn't be watching a movie like this in the first place, which leaves the rest of us feeling preached at and talked down to.
"The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada" is a noble effort that doesn't really work.
Grade: B- -
jeremy-liebster4 September 2006I must say that from the previews this looked like just my type of film - powerful, good acting, tense, maybe a bit slow but only in a smouldering-with-tension kind of way. Perhaps that is why I was so disappointed with the plot-less tedium that was Three Burials. A border patrol guard kills a Mexican and this prompts an hour and a half (it seemed like at least 3) of the guard being dragged across the country by the Mexican's friend. And it is revealed that the guard's wife had sex with the Mexican - but with no character development this is simply unfathomable. This utter lack of character development is the inherent problem with the film and it renders most of the characters' actions to be inexplicable. Moreover we are expected to sympathise with the Mexican immigrants yet without any of the protagonists in the film being any more than almost comic stereotypes I was left completely cold. I agree that the politics are sledgehammer PC but this would not have bothered me at all if the film hadn't been so lacklustre. Unfortunately, despite the excellent acting of Barry Pepper as the border guard, this film is as vacant as the Texan desert in which it is set.