Three Burials – Die drei Begräbnisse des Melquiades Estrada (2005)

Three Burials – Die drei Begräbnisse des Melquiades Estrada: Directed by Tommy Lee Jones. With Tommy Lee Jones, Barry Pepper, Julio Cesar Cedillo, Dwight Yoakam. Ranch foreman Pete Perkins looks to fulfill the promise to his recently deceased best friend by burying him in his hometown in Mexico.

“Ay, carramba! A diablo of a marketing challenge: a bilingual movie, with an impossible-to-remember title, a story of white trash, Mexican wetbacks (thatu0026#39;s the filmu0026#39;s language), cruel Border Patrol u0026quot;cowboys,u0026quot; and Tommy Lee Jones as the director and the uniquely memorable lead character… and a film thatu0026#39;s one of the yearu0026#39;s best.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eu0026quot;The Three Burials of Melquiades Estradau0026quot; opens with a somewhat confusing sequence of flashbacks, and for the first half hour, you wish you were watching something more u0026quot;orderly,u0026quot; but youu0026#39;ll be hooked anyway. For the next hour and a half, however, there is a crescendo of images and situations hitting the viewer over the head, amazing and moving.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eTaking the corpse of a friend – and his very much alive killer – back to Mexico for a u0026quot;proper burialu0026quot; and to mete out justice, Jonesu0026#39; voyage is a quirky, epic adventure, based on the brilliant writing of Guillermo Arriaga (of u0026quot;21 Gramsu0026quot;), and filmed to perfection by Chris Menges (of u0026quot;The Killing Fieldsu0026quot; and u0026quot;The Missionu0026quot;).u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eBesides Jones (who won the 2005 Cannes Festival best actor award for this), u0026quot;3 Burialsu0026quot; features fabulous performances by Barry Pepper (u0026quot;25 Hoursu0026quot;), Julio Cedillo, and a large group of remarkable supporting actors on both sides of the border.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eJones says something in the production notes that could sound arrogant or affected… except that itu0026#39;s true: u0026quot;Some visual influences have been the kabuki theater, the art of Donald Judd and Dan Flavin, and the films of Akira Kurasawa, Sam Peckinpah, and Jean-Luc Godard.u0026quot; Amen.”