The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada
Director: Tommy Lee Jones
With: Tommy Lee Jones, Barry Pepper
Runtime: 121 min
Three Burials, the directorial debut of Tommy Lee Jones, sees Pete (Tommy Lee Jones) a Texan ranch foreman going to extreme lengths to keep the promise he made to his dead friend Melquiades Estrada, which was to return his body to his hometown in Mexico after he is found murdered. The tale that ensues is heart wrenching and ridiculous, but terribly, terribly real.
From the opening scene there is no doubt that you are watching a Western. The bright and dusty cinematography and the slow, southern drawl of all the characters, with the country and western blaring out in the background lets the earthy grit of the South enter every pore of the film, creating a kind of micro-universe, in which the characters play out their lives.
This Western, however, only contains one shoot ‘em up, seen from different perspectives, which not so much glorifies such acts of violence but shows the reality of what it means to take a man’s life.
Tommy Lee Jones is perfect for his role; he is every part the cowboy, with cracked, tanned skin like old leather and a slow, reserved manner, saying only what he needs to when he needs to and nothing more. Barry Pepper’s turn as Mike Norton, the border patrol officer responsible for Melquiades’ death, is also impressive, as we watch him confront his demons quite literally and come to terms with what he has done.
Screenwriter Guillermo Arriaga (21 Grams) is true to form, blending key themes of life, death, friendship and forgiveness in a typically complex narrative: the film has no chronological sequence and although this is not immediately obvious, once you have picked this up, it adds a depth to the film that would otherwise be hard to come by. It feels like a bit of reality has been cut out and put on screen as you jump from scene to scene and character to character and slowly build up the overall story. The film kind of trundles along, not rushing over its themes and leading you to various squeamish and ludicrous moments that bring you to laughter despite the distasteful nature of what you are seeing and remind you how crazy life can be.
This is not a light undertaking, but the story is resolved in a bold, satisfying conclusion. If you are patient it will offer you a little bit of everything. The true nature of what it is trying to say is not something you can pin down easily and the chances are you’ll leave with more questions than when you arrived but it contains a truth and beauty not easily matched. A definite must-see.
Reviewed by
Tom King
