Hi there my dear readers. I’m back today, and today I'm gonna be discussing about a small and little-known movie titled ‘The Three Burials of’. First of all, I find this movie interesting as it is directed by Tommy Lee Jones who also stars in it. Yes, THAT Tommy Lee Jones; of The Fugitive fame. I caught it around two years ago while browsing through the movie channels on Astro. I find it amusing that some of the best movies I’ve seen were discovered by browsing randomly through the TV channels while bored or insomniac. This movie was based on a stage play written by a Mexican playwright Guillermo Arriaga, which was based on the killing of a Mexican teenager by a group of US marines near the US – Mexico border in 1997.
The story begins when a border patrol officer Mike Norton (Barry Pepper); accidentally shoots and kills a Mexican immigrant Melquiades Estrada and quickly and discreetly buries him. Estrada’s good friend; rancher Pete Perkins (Tommy Lee Jones) finds out about the murder and the perpetrator; and proceeds to dig up his friend’s body and kidnap the patrol officer; with the objective of fulfilling Estrada’s request of being buried back in his hometown in Mexico upon his death. The surreal duo; Perkins and the hostage; then trek across the deserted and even more surreal landscape of the border to search for the deceased’s hometown; with the rapidly decomposing body of Melquiades Estrada in tow.
And the surreality of this movie is what I find endearing. The trio are put through several situations that border on the absurd; such as the one scene from ‘The Three Burials’ that is stuck in my mind until this very day; when Perkins and Norton come across a blind old man who lives alone in his house in the middle of the desert with only a transistor radio that is perpetually tuned in to Mexican radio stations to keep him company (“I like the way Spanish sounds, don’t you?”). After offering them a simple meal, the old man asks them to shoot him as he is old but does not want to commit sacrilege by killing himself. They refuse and leave. And when Perkins finds out that his friend’s account of his hometown might not be as straightforward as it sounded, the two of them start questioning the journey and the deceased themselves. The sparseness of the arid landscape further cements the theme to alienation felt by the characters; Perkins, Norton; and the various people in their lives and the journey such as the old man and Perkins’ wife (January Jones).
The performance in this movie is gripping; with Tommy Lee Jones channelling the determination of a friend to fulfil his promise; not quite obsessive; yet not really given to revenge in his harsh treatment of his bare-footed prisoner. And as the prisoner and the patrol officer who is resentful towards his life and his marriage to a too-beautiful-to-be-married-to-a-dumb-country-hick woman; Barry Pepper is simply stellar; whether he is playing at being tortured mentally or physically.
I have to commend my cable TV company; Astro for selecting such good movies for showcase; although they are often aired during non-peak hours. A few movies that I have reviewed so far were because I was simply flipping through the channels; which begs the question; what other worthy movies have I missed, since I don’t watch TV often? Please Astro, promote them better please? Not just the Oscar nominees and winners. Kthxbai.
The GOOD:
- the movie is quirky in its subject matter, yet engaging in its sparingness
- stellar performance by Tommy Lee Jones, yet again. His directing is commendable, too.
The BAD: the minor mystery regarding Melquiades Estrada’s hometown is left a little too much to interpretation to my liking
My VERDICT: this movie is a 7.5/10
TRIVIA: up until today, this is the only theatrical movie that Tommy Lee Jones has ever directed. (Source: IMDb)
