Kat Evenson A story about the best and worst of human nature. One of my favorite things about this movie is that Pete and Mel live in a world where a man's horse and his gun are integral to his life and livelihood - this kind of man is so often misunderstood by those with an urban background. But there is also the cautionary aspect of the story, where firearm use is both the cause of and the "solution" to Pete's unhinged and very human grief. His journey with Norton to Mexico is an odyssey that includes episodes of pathos, payback, hubris and humility, not to mention handy tips on amateur embalming. Just about every character is a casualty in some sense, but I identified with Pete all the way through. The cast is superb - I will not single out any one in particular, for how could I choose? But the scene where the sheriff and the waitress discuss Viagra is priceless. Great script and direction - I'll keep an eye out for future Tommy Lee Jones directing projects.

James Lewis (jklewis54) The directorial debut of Tommy Lee Jones may likely provide deep insight into Jones' own faith and the influence of author Flannery O'Connor. "The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada" provides a vista of the bleakness of man's sinfulness, and his need for grace and redemption. An easier to pronounce and less enigmatic title could have been "The Redemption of Mike Norton", but that would have been too revealing.The film, like the southern border wilderness where it is set, exposes the true nature of man – a dichotomy of the spiritual and mundane. As in our American judicial system it endorses vengeance as well as provides opportunity for forgiveness and rehabilitation. A powerful modern-day Western, "Three Burials" is written by Guillermo Arriaga, an award-winning Mexican screenwriter acclaimed for "Amores Perros" and "21 Grams." This screenplay does justice to Jones' focus in the film on death and redemption as most of Arriaga's stories have death as a central theme, likely a factor of his being raised in one of Mexico City's more violent barrios. It is evident these men have collaborated on a film that embodies laconic pace and visceral images in a western context; both can be viewed as an extension of Jones' Harvard thesis on author Flannery O'Connor:The film's O'Connor connection is not haphazard, with Mr. Jones identifying her, and the book of Ecclesiastes, as primary influences on the story. "You look for the allegorical intentions of what we're taught in the Bible, and then find some way to have it revealed or expressed by common experience. You'll find this happening over and over again in O'Connor, who was a rather classical Catholic thinker who wrote about nothing but backwoods north Georgia rednecks." In that same interview, Mr. Jones continues: "Ecclesiastes is essential to the movie as well. . . . It has to do with the passage of time. You want to start thinking as an actor that the past, the present, and the future are occurring simultaneously, and God requires an accounting of all three." There is ample evidence of a powerful link of this film to the book of Ecclesiastes and the stories of Flannery O'Connor; both of their themes are integral to this film: "Barry Pepper talked about the influence of the Bible and the works of Flannery O'Connor on The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada, written and directed by Tommy Lee Jones. O'Connor is important to the way this movie is constructed," he continues. ''What you do is you consider some so-called religious thinking without the didacticism of the classical approach. You look for the allegorical intentions of what we're taught in the Bible, and then find some way to have it revealed or expressed by common experience." Jones adds: Also, family members of the film's co-producer, Michael Fitzgerald, are executors of O'Connor's literary estate. ''So we both knew our O'Connor rather well, and it was just a natural approach for me." The viewer is treated to a colorful and varied screen; from the opening pastel credits, wide rambling hills, mountains, and desert, to the stark filtered colors of the café and morgue. Jones accomplishes a remarkable task in directing, as well as doing some of his own camera work, and as lead actor. In front of the camera Jones heads the cast as Pete Perkins, a ranch foreman, who takes on a Mexican drifter, Melquiades Estrada (Julio Cedillo) who is obviously in the U.S. illegally. Pete seems taken with the man, who answers the question of what he does as: "I'm just a cowboy."For my full review (contains spoilers) with a view of Ecclesiastes: http://alturl.com/ghjbb

Anssi Vartiainen On the technical side of things this is an excellent film. I can find almost no flaws in its execution. The directing works, the scenes flow very well from one to another (though I don't really care for the flash-forwards, but that's a personal bias) and the acting is top-notch. Add in some gorgeous scenery, nice cinematography and a decent score and there's really nothing much to complain about.So that leaves us with the story, the style and the characters. I don't mind the story. It's actually a rather good tale about a sour man that doesn't really care about much anything, but has grown attached to his protégé and wants to do something decent for a while, even if that something is just giving the young man a proper burial place. I'll buy it and I was actually somewhat interested in the premise. Unfortunately the style and the characters are all very unpleasant to witness. This is a depressing movie. That's not exactly a flaw, as it is a conscious choice made by the makers of this movie, but it didn't improve the viewing experience for me. And the movie actually gets a lot better when we get out of that little American border town where everyone is ugly, sinful and has given up all hope. Sure people are ugly and sinful on the other side of the border as well, but at least they have an explanation for their misery. In that American town there's just this feeling of clinical masochism. Like they're miserable by choice. And perhaps that's the statement that the film makers wanted to convey. If so, they certainly succeeded.And, to the film's credit, there are some good characters as well. Tom Lee Jones' Pete Perkins has given up hope like so many others in this film, but there's still that small sliver of principle in him, shining through the cracks. Likewise with the titular character Melquiades Estrada, the only character that feels alive in this film, even though it is about his burial. Wrap your head around that fact.All in all I wouldn't necessarily recommend this to anyone. It's a well-made movie about hopelessness, frustration and meaningless good deeds, but it's also so very ugly that I kind of wish I hadn't seen it. On the other hand I recognize that my personal taste in movies is the only thing that's preventing me from singing its praises. So if gritty realism is your thing, this movie could be for you.

Aristides-2 Several times while watching this awful movie I thought of Bugs Bunny. After the movie was over I realized why I had these thoughts: Bugs would occasionally 'reach' into his body and pull out something he needed to further the story. It could be a blowtorch, fully operative, or a bowling ball or a weapon. So too with Three Burials. When the story advances to the road aspect of the movie, we get 'surprise' devices like .... finding a blind man listening to a radio in the boonies somewhere in Mexico .....how this living-alone, elderly impoverished sightless man was able to find the fuel to run the .....presumed..... generator since his cancer-ridden son hadn't visited in six months is a different story problem...... The sub-professional screenwriter .....of this movie....., Arriaga, then reaches for the blow torch again when the Barry Pepper character 'escapes' from captivity and enters a cave to hide only to be bitten by a rattlesnake! .....how this beaten-up man, dispirited, exhausted, malnourished, riding without a hat in the daytime Mexican sun then slung over a horse and riding for unknown hours, over rough terrain, could survive a rattlesnake bite is another story whopper too...... There were other fanciful inventions like the ones mentioned but on to other problems with this movie. Repeated flashbacks can be acceptable in telling a story but only when the question is answered, "Would the story work better being told in a more linear fashion"? During the early parts of Three Burials I was confused several times when characters I was just beginning to learn about were time shifted backwards. For this viewer, the confusion this caused wasn't worth the effort itself and the story would have been clearer had they told it straight forward. .....Plus, later on, this creaky device is just dropped from the movie altogether!..... Something else now: Is Arriaga making a political statement by showing virtually all of the white Americans as defectives in one way or another while all the Latino's are benign, generous and overall, good guys? More: The character played by Jones is certifiably insane. Really weird guy. Next: In brief but numerous flashbacks they show the relationship between Pete and Melquiades as a deep one of mutual trust and affection. How then to deal with the duplicity of Melquiades in telling Pete about his non-existent family in Jimenez? Is this something you would do to a good friend when talking about your death and how you would want your family notified? It's pathological and calls into question M.'s character. Finally: Three burials take place. The final one, after all the tedious agony Pete's gone through to have it occur, is a half-ass job with the body not even deeply/fully buried. The local animals would have his remains eaten and spread all over the place, assuming of course, that there would be anything edible after all the amateur embalming that has taken place. PS: Why the need to show the corpse over and over again?