"The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada" (2005) - Movie Review

The mechanics of working on an independent cinema takes strenuous visual details of imagination. It takes lot of slow movements and still need to have the same gripping sense a conventional movie carries out in telling a story. The perfection in achieving those images relies heavily upon the performances and the editing. In a story of redemption, friendship and forgiveness, “The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada” brings out the visual beauty and the strain of those values in a momentum of mellowed subtle and laid back scenes with striking ending. And with Tommy Lee Jones giving a performance of his career, it cannot come better than in his own direction.

With that said, there needs to be a warning for all those who are in the belief of expecting “The Fugitive” and “US Marshals”. In fact it took me a while to get toned in to what genre the film is taking itself into. May be it is due to the image of Tommy Lee Jones continuously putting himself in a good cop role which made to incline on it. The Pete he is suiting is a guy who is man’s man, as many would describe. He is the aged cowboy. And in his world, words are not spoken much to express himself. The film is segmented as four parts. It comprises three burials of his friend Melquiades Estrada (Julio César Cedillo) and the journey towards his third burial along with the guy who killed his friend, Mike Norton (Barry Pepper). It is a unique attribution to it. The first burial of course ends in the killing and dumping of him whiles the second and third is the actual burial.

With flash back scenes back and forth, we learn that the Mexican Melquiades joins along with Pete. Their friendship grows as time goes by. Similarly we are shown how Mike who is a US Border Patrolman moves into the city in Texas near the US Mexico border. He is totally detached and stern. There is no relationship as such in between himself and his wife Lou Ann (January Jones). For some unknown reason he keeps everything inside. From the very little of him shown as a character in first two parts, it is learnt that he has some serious aversion towards illegal immigrants and his insensitive reactions as such to any one. While he is patrolling alone, he hears gunshots. Without even realizing or properly investigating who is shooting and whether really he is being aimed, he takes up his rifle. Marks up the man at a very long distance and shoots him. He disposes the man he killed in a shallow grave which is not shown but learned. That is Melquiades who was shooting at a coyote for protecting his goats. Having learned that, Mike feels regret inside as he always does. But his hate and thick skinned nature overcomes the guilt, or it is the way he overcomes it.

With only friend known in a country he is staying illegally Melquiades creates an attachment of his own with Pete. Pete acknowledges it properly and goes to the extent of digging up his friend’s grave to take it across the border and bury him as per his request. We do not see any emotional exchanges between these two. The intensity of the friendship they share is learned as the movie progresses. It is through Pete and his actions do we learn their small world of happiness. The film brings out some form of facet in the story only in the second part. We see certain things which appear to be a serious plot change of interest, but it does not use those. Rather it is been used up to lighten and show some light on the supporting casts. Lou Ann and Rachel (Melissa Leo) are estranged wives. Lou Ann meets Rachel who waits at her husband’s café. The regular visits create an opportunity to share each other’s emptiness. There are no tears or explanation. Their frustration towards detached husband is by a simple one minute scene. Lou Ann is looking at Rachel while she is mopping the floor. Rachel looks back and understands the loneliness in her eyes. Rachel asks her husband that how many years have passed since they got married. And he replies after some wild guesses in an uninteresting manner to convey that he does not care. Rachel smiles back at Lou Ann and she acknowledges it. In a while, we see both of them with Pete and Melquiades going to a Motel. And we do not ask for reasoning and that’s how the movie acts on us.

The journey with taking Mike tied up towards Mexico is where everyone expects lot of regrets about the mistakes of each other, the feeling of discovering themselves and finally a friendship with a redemption sought Mike to happen. All those happen but not in the Hollywood kind of way. They do not grow close. Nor does Mike confess with his own explanation of his mistake. Neither does Pete explains how much the friend ship meant to him. Nothing happens. It is all body language and the effort of Pete on taking his friend’s body to a place he is not sure of. The relationship of Pete and Melquiades is not shown because we as such learn along side of Mike seeing Pete. It is real when Pete says to the woman he believes to be his friend’s wife as, “Melquiades was a good friend” and it is Tommy Lee Jones at his top notch performance.

The movie is paced with nothing happening at all for more than an hour. But without that strong setting up of the stage, it does not provide the support for the remaining parts of the film. The film is a subtle presentation and ensemble of emotions inside the tough old Pete and the people he meets to express it, in his own way.