Three Burials
By Mal Simons, Blockbuster.co.uk
Directed by and starring movie legend (
Tommy Lee Jones), and co-starring the wonderful (
Barry Pepper); Three Burials is a multi-layered story of death, revenge, loneliness, remembrance and redemption set in the poor, desolate land on the troubled border area between the US and Mexico. Loosely based on a true story, Tommy Lee Jones’ directorial debut is a brilliant film that will have you on the edge of your seats.
Jones stars at Pete Perkins, a fair and decent owner of a Texas ranch. When his ranch hand is found dead and buried in a shallow grave in the desert, killed under mysterious circumstances; Pete goes to the local sheriff Belmont and asks to be kept involved in the investigation and requests that his friend, Melquiades Estrada’s body be released to him so he can make sure that he receives the proper burial he deserves. Unfortunately, the sheriff isn’t overly interested and buries Estrada’s body in a county unmarked plot. As Melquiades was Mexican, the authorities refuse to investigate so Pete takes matters into his own hands.
Pete’s investigation leads him to the corrupt white-trash border guard Mike Norton – played by ‘Saving Private Ryan’ and ‘The Green Mile’ star (
Barry Pepper)
. Newly transferred to the Border Patrol, he is angry and cruel to both his beautiful wife and the Mexicans that attempt to sneak over the border in search of a better life. Pete tracks Norton back to his home and captures him, first forcing him to dig up Estrada’s body, then with the corpse strapped to a horse takes the Border Patrol officer with him on a long and arduous journey to take the body back to Mexico.
(
Tommy Lee Jones) uses the technique made famous by Tarantino by using flashbacks and multiple stories to fill in the back story to the characters. The central plot of the kidnapping of the guard and the journey to Mexico is incredibly gripping – don’t worry if you don’t understand everything that’s going on at first, with some of the multiple stories just giving enough information to keep us interested – this was Jones’ intention and in the tradition of ‘Crash’ and ’21 Grams’, everything will be explained in the end.
Through this technique, we get to meet the cruel Norton and his bored wife Lou Ann, we also see how Pete and Melquiades meet and the friendship that Norton destroyed. (
Tommy Lee Jones) is extremely impressive in this film and gives one of his greatest performances – this is obviously a project very close to his heart. (
Barry Pepper) is also good as Mike Norton, a man who has few redeeming features and who gets his just deserves at the hands of Jones’ character Pete.
The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada is an outstanding movie with some of the finest performances we’ve ever seen. This film is beautiful as well – with amazing cinematography, bi-lingual dialogue and a wonderful soundtrack. The thing that stands out about Three Burials is it’s originality – I find it hard to remember a film like it. A gripping epic of a film that you will remember forever. Definitely worthy a watch – you won’t regret it! Add to your list now.
What Other People Say:"Unforgettable"Empire
"A Stirring Tale layed To Perfection"Uncut
"Stunning"The Times
"A Movie of Great Beauty"Daily Express
"An Exceptional Modern Western"Hotdog
"Superbly Performed, Brilliant"Film of the Week, Time Out