The Three Burials of Melquaides Estrada

To be buried three times… well, we do say third times a charm. I suspect however, that three, four hundred years from now, Melquaides body may be dug up by some futuristic digging device, and unintentionally buried somewhere else, and a thousand years after that, yet again no doubt.

The idea of a place where you lay your bones to rest is really only important for those who you were close to, and who lived while you lived. To Melquaides, Tommy Lee Jones’ character is one of those people. We are reminded here, intentionally no doubt, of Sam Pekinpah and his film The Wild Bunch. Tommy Lee Jones won best actor at Cannes this year, and if you see it, you’ll understand why. His character is fairly complex, he’s caring about his friends, but when someone kills a person he loves (that being the illegal Mexican immigrant Melquaides Estrada) shit really go sideways, and Tommy Lee Jones will show us all that he’s almost as bat shit crazy as Mel Gibson… almost.

It’s a good thing films like this exist. American film seems to get lost to slews of romantic comedies, Hollywood dramas, and huge explosion action films. It’s a comforting thought that as the most conservative and macho of all American genres, and maybe even the most conservative genre of the entire language of film, the Western is perhaps the most poetic. The western is truly our contribution to film, and it’s nice when even in the year 2006 we can be reminded of its relevance. Oh yeah, and it kicks ass.