The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada
I have to confess that before going to the movie, I did not know how to say the name in Tommy Lee Jones’ directorial debut The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada. After the movie, I have found numerous things more difficult to grasp than simply the title. The movie is definitely not made for the mainstream audience and even some art movie lovers may find it not to their tastes.
Burials follows cowboy Pete (played by Tommy Lee Jones)’s journey to bring his friend and help, an illegal immigrant Melquiades Estrada, back to his hometown in Mexico for a proper burial. Along the way, he also carries out his sense of justice on the killer, a racist border patrol Mike (played by Barry Pepper).
The film is written by Mexican screenwriter Guillermo Arriaga who also penned Amores Perros and 21 Grams. While I enjoyed the former, I am not a fan of the latter. In Burials, Arriaga has continued his non-chronological and non-linear writing style. According to his Creative Screenwriting interview, Arriaga writes based on character’s state of mind. He reasons that in real life our minds do not follow a straight forward timeline, and we constantly go back and forth between present and past; that is how he writes his movies. The end result could be confusing for audience members not familiar with his method, especially the first 20-30 minutes of the movie. Once the audience understands his structure, they may be able to follow the flow. Arriaga writes all his screenplays in his native Spanish and then has someone else translate his scripts into English. In the case of Burials, Tommy Lee Jones then translated the English script into Texan. Arriaga clearly does not write to merely entertain; he writes to challenge and engage us. Because of his unique manner of delivery, the audience has to stay focused on every dialogue and scene in order to organize all the sequences. In Burials, the audience may find more questions than answers at the end of the movie. It can be quite frustrating for anyone who seeks resolution at the finale.
Burials is divided into four chapters: the first burial of Melquiades Estrada, the second burial of Melquiades Estrada, the journey, and the third burial of Melquiades Estrada. For me, the most satisfying episode is the journey. One reason has to be that this third chapter is mostly told in a traditional storytelling fashion and has little flashback. But more importantly, Pete and Mike cross the border into Mexico and retrace all those illegal immigrants’ trail in a reverse order and witness what life is like on the other side of the border. The movie does not try to solve complicated immigration issues, but it does show compassion and human decency should not be denied to anyone.
The movie does not boast excessive violence and sex, but it is not for weak hearted. It is a movie journey with two guys and a corpse. That corpse gets substantial screen time. Pete has to struggle with nature to preserve the body as best as he could. The scenes are integral parts of the movie, but some people may be grossed out watching it.
Jones does a good job in his first time out as a director. Jones and Arriage have tried to make the movie feel as realistic and natural as possible. It is a tough movie to make and the pace is deliberately slow to emphasize the emptiness and boredom in that sleepy Texan town along the Mexican border. The vast desolate landscape also establishes the main characters’ isolation in their little worlds.
Except Jones, the movie does not boast a star studded cast, but their performances are stellar. I hope Jones won’t start spending more time behind the camera instead of in front of it. In my opinion, he is the best cowboy actor out there in America today. Without saying a word, all the lines on his face have already told a thousand stories. Pepper does a convincing job portraying Mike as an intolerant bully on the road to redemption. Years ago, when I first saw Pepper in Saving Private Ryan, I had predicted that he would become a big star. With Battlefield Earth, his destiny to stardom seemed to be doomed, but he has persevered in playing important supporting roles in serious movies and I believe my prediction will still prove true. Country star Dwight Yoakam also has a small role in this movie and plays the town sheriff. He has surprisingly carved himself a second career by becoming a character actor. Probably due to his country music background, he is especially good at depicting southerners.
2005 has turned out to be an important year in the Western genre. Hollywood has finally stopped making conventional Westerns set in 19th century and started producing some contemporary ones that reflect current social environments. For years, Hollywood has masculinized and glamorized cowboys, but in reality, they seem to be far from that cool Marlboro image and live a hard and lonely life. Willie Nelson probably got it right when he sang Mamas don’t let your babies grow up to be cowboys.
Burials follows cowboy Pete (played by Tommy Lee Jones)’s journey to bring his friend and help, an illegal immigrant Melquiades Estrada, back to his hometown in Mexico for a proper burial. Along the way, he also carries out his sense of justice on the killer, a racist border patrol Mike (played by Barry Pepper).
The film is written by Mexican screenwriter Guillermo Arriaga who also penned Amores Perros and 21 Grams. While I enjoyed the former, I am not a fan of the latter. In Burials, Arriaga has continued his non-chronological and non-linear writing style. According to his Creative Screenwriting interview, Arriaga writes based on character’s state of mind. He reasons that in real life our minds do not follow a straight forward timeline, and we constantly go back and forth between present and past; that is how he writes his movies. The end result could be confusing for audience members not familiar with his method, especially the first 20-30 minutes of the movie. Once the audience understands his structure, they may be able to follow the flow. Arriaga writes all his screenplays in his native Spanish and then has someone else translate his scripts into English. In the case of Burials, Tommy Lee Jones then translated the English script into Texan. Arriaga clearly does not write to merely entertain; he writes to challenge and engage us. Because of his unique manner of delivery, the audience has to stay focused on every dialogue and scene in order to organize all the sequences. In Burials, the audience may find more questions than answers at the end of the movie. It can be quite frustrating for anyone who seeks resolution at the finale.
Burials is divided into four chapters: the first burial of Melquiades Estrada, the second burial of Melquiades Estrada, the journey, and the third burial of Melquiades Estrada. For me, the most satisfying episode is the journey. One reason has to be that this third chapter is mostly told in a traditional storytelling fashion and has little flashback. But more importantly, Pete and Mike cross the border into Mexico and retrace all those illegal immigrants’ trail in a reverse order and witness what life is like on the other side of the border. The movie does not try to solve complicated immigration issues, but it does show compassion and human decency should not be denied to anyone.
The movie does not boast excessive violence and sex, but it is not for weak hearted. It is a movie journey with two guys and a corpse. That corpse gets substantial screen time. Pete has to struggle with nature to preserve the body as best as he could. The scenes are integral parts of the movie, but some people may be grossed out watching it.
Jones does a good job in his first time out as a director. Jones and Arriage have tried to make the movie feel as realistic and natural as possible. It is a tough movie to make and the pace is deliberately slow to emphasize the emptiness and boredom in that sleepy Texan town along the Mexican border. The vast desolate landscape also establishes the main characters’ isolation in their little worlds.
Except Jones, the movie does not boast a star studded cast, but their performances are stellar. I hope Jones won’t start spending more time behind the camera instead of in front of it. In my opinion, he is the best cowboy actor out there in America today. Without saying a word, all the lines on his face have already told a thousand stories. Pepper does a convincing job portraying Mike as an intolerant bully on the road to redemption. Years ago, when I first saw Pepper in Saving Private Ryan, I had predicted that he would become a big star. With Battlefield Earth, his destiny to stardom seemed to be doomed, but he has persevered in playing important supporting roles in serious movies and I believe my prediction will still prove true. Country star Dwight Yoakam also has a small role in this movie and plays the town sheriff. He has surprisingly carved himself a second career by becoming a character actor. Probably due to his country music background, he is especially good at depicting southerners.
2005 has turned out to be an important year in the Western genre. Hollywood has finally stopped making conventional Westerns set in 19th century and started producing some contemporary ones that reflect current social environments. For years, Hollywood has masculinized and glamorized cowboys, but in reality, they seem to be far from that cool Marlboro image and live a hard and lonely life. Willie Nelson probably got it right when he sang Mamas don’t let your babies grow up to be cowboys.
4 Comments:
这个电影出来有点晚，但在independent spirit award 上还是有几个提名的。
很高兴pepper又回来了。当年刚有一点要红的意思，就被John Travolta给拉下水了。一定恨死scientology了。
还没想好是不是去看这个片片。最近文艺片看得太多了。昨天去看了UV和俄罗斯的night watch.
Tommy Lee Jones is great in this movie, too. The movie is a bit too artsy, though. How is Night Watch? I heard it is the highest grossing Russian movie in its history. Is it worth checking out?
night watch放好莱坞也就一B级制作。但俄国人用有限的银子做成现在这样还是挺令人佩服的。看看无妨。
这是一三部曲，第二集好像已经出了，叫day watch.
They are all based on books. Night Watch is the first novel in a tetralogy that continues with Day Watch, Twilight Watch and Final Watch. I think Day Watch also did huge business in Russia.
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