The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada (2005)
(Los tres entierros de Melquiades Estrada)
Country: FR/US
Technical: DeLuxe/scope 121m
Director: Tommy Lee Jones
Cast: Tommy Lee Jones, Barry Pepper, Julio César Cedillo
Synopsis:
A cowboy near the Mexican border befriends a wetback, only to lose him in a senseless shooting incident. Having identified the culprit as a border patrolman whose wife he and Melquiades had taken out on a double date, he kidnaps him and forces him to disinter the body and help him carry it on horseback into Mexico to the home town where he had asked to be buried.
Review:
This magisterial modern western, which inevitably recalls Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia in its theme and setting, is handled in a totally distinct manner. For a start it is non-linear, with flashbacks introduced without warning as and when they are needed, and it is not about violence or going out in a blaze of glory; the final shot, for instance, has Jones ride away on a mule towards an uncertain future with his quarry and erstwhile prisoner calling after him a question of concern for his welfare - quite unlike anything Peckinpah would contemplate in its layered ironies and redemptive grace. The minor characters are beautifully sketched in and acted with real sensitivity, and Jones gives them the space to do so (the pace is leisurely but does not drag). This is by far the most humane and penetrating film to have been made in the border patrol subgenre.
(Los tres entierros de Melquiades Estrada)
Country: FR/US
Technical: DeLuxe/scope 121m
Director: Tommy Lee Jones
Cast: Tommy Lee Jones, Barry Pepper, Julio César Cedillo
Synopsis:
A cowboy near the Mexican border befriends a wetback, only to lose him in a senseless shooting incident. Having identified the culprit as a border patrolman whose wife he and Melquiades had taken out on a double date, he kidnaps him and forces him to disinter the body and help him carry it on horseback into Mexico to the home town where he had asked to be buried.
Review:
This magisterial modern western, which inevitably recalls Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia in its theme and setting, is handled in a totally distinct manner. For a start it is non-linear, with flashbacks introduced without warning as and when they are needed, and it is not about violence or going out in a blaze of glory; the final shot, for instance, has Jones ride away on a mule towards an uncertain future with his quarry and erstwhile prisoner calling after him a question of concern for his welfare - quite unlike anything Peckinpah would contemplate in its layered ironies and redemptive grace. The minor characters are beautifully sketched in and acted with real sensitivity, and Jones gives them the space to do so (the pace is leisurely but does not drag). This is by far the most humane and penetrating film to have been made in the border patrol subgenre.
(Los tres entierros de Melquiades Estrada)
Country: FR/US
Technical: DeLuxe/scope 121m
Director: Tommy Lee Jones
Cast: Tommy Lee Jones, Barry Pepper, Julio César Cedillo
Synopsis:
A cowboy near the Mexican border befriends a wetback, only to lose him in a senseless shooting incident. Having identified the culprit as a border patrolman whose wife he and Melquiades had taken out on a double date, he kidnaps him and forces him to disinter the body and help him carry it on horseback into Mexico to the home town where he had asked to be buried.
Review:
This magisterial modern western, which inevitably recalls Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia in its theme and setting, is handled in a totally distinct manner. For a start it is non-linear, with flashbacks introduced without warning as and when they are needed, and it is not about violence or going out in a blaze of glory; the final shot, for instance, has Jones ride away on a mule towards an uncertain future with his quarry and erstwhile prisoner calling after him a question of concern for his welfare - quite unlike anything Peckinpah would contemplate in its layered ironies and redemptive grace. The minor characters are beautifully sketched in and acted with real sensitivity, and Jones gives them the space to do so (the pace is leisurely but does not drag). This is by far the most humane and penetrating film to have been made in the border patrol subgenre.