The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada (2005)

Aan de Amerikaans-Mexicaanse grens raakt grenswachter Mike Norton (Barry Pepper) betrokken bij de dood van Melquiades Estrada. Het slachtoffer wordt vlug begraven en in het stadje beschouwt men het incident als afgesloten. Het gaat immers maar om een illegale arbeider. Maar wanneer ranch medewerker Pete Perkins (Tommy Lee Jones), een goede vriend van Estrada, erachter komt wat er met hem is gebeurd gaat hij achter Mike aan. Hij dwingt Mike het lichaam op te graven en samen met het lijk trekken ze naar het Mexicaanse geboortedorp van Estrada om hem daar opnieuw te begraven. De tocht verloopt niet zonder moeilijkhe...
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Tommy Lee Jones takes his second turn in the director's chair with THE THREE BURIALS OF MELQUIADES ESTRADA, the follow-up to his 1995 western THE GOOD OLD BOYS. The action takes place on the border between West Texas and Northern Chihuahua in Mexico, which is a hot spot for illegal crossings. But Jones's movie ingeniously flips this dangerous yet all-too-common practice on its head, with a tale of a man hell-bent on crossing the border in the opposite direction.

The journey to Mexico begins when Pete Perkins (Jones) uncovers the identity of a Border Patrolman, Mike Norton (Barry Pepper), who has shot a...
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nd killed his best friend, Melquiades Estrada (Julio Cedillo). Kidnapping Norton and forcing him to dig up Estrada's body, Perkins straps the corpse to a horse, and informs Norton that he will be traveling with them to Mexico. Once there, they will bury Estrada according to instructions he gave Perkins prior to his death. Jones paints Norton as a mean-spirited individual; caught up in a loveless relationship with his wife, Lou Ann (January Jones), Norton's day job frequently involves him him either exploding in a violent rage or idly masturbating over a well-thumbed copy of Hustler. The two men don't exactly bond on their journey, the wedge that's been forced between them being far too great for them to reconcile their differences. But Jones coerces a riveting tale from Guillermo Arriaga script, with a choppy chronology reminiscent of Arriaga's own 21 GRAMS. Comparisons to Sam Peckinpah's masterfully bleak 1974 movie BRING ME THE HEAD OF ALFREDO GARCIA are inevitable, although Jones's film has a tender edge that Peckinpah's nihilistic epic was never quite capable of reaching. A film that suggests Jones has a bright future ahead of him as a director, THE THREE BURIALS OF MELQUIADES ESTRADA is one of the most absorbing pieces of cinema to emerge in 2005.
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Veteran screen star Tommy Lee Jones makes his directorial debut with the fractured tale of murder and injustice on the U.S.-Mexico border scripted by Amores Perros and 21 Grams screenwriter Guillermo Arriaga. Mike Norton (Barry Pepper) is a fresh-faced Border Patrol officer in Cibolo County, TX, whose dedication to his new job leaves his lonely wife, Lou Ann (January Jones), with little to do but spend her days at the local diner, where she strikes up a friendship with waitress Rachel (Melissa Leo). Despite her own status as a married woman, Rachel is unfulfilled in her marriage and is intimately involved with bo...
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th rugged rancher Pete Perkins (Tommy Lee Jones) and local sheriff Belmont (Dwight Yoakam). Soon after Pete hires Mexican illegal Melquiades Estrada (Julio César Cedillo) as a ranch hand, the growing bond between the pair is suddenly shattered when, in a moment of panic on a routine patrol, Mike hastily guns down the innocent Melquaides. When an enraged Pete learns that Mike has unceremoniously buried the illegal immigrant in an unmarked desert grave and local authorities opt to overlook the case, he kidnaps the crooked lawman and sets out to ensure that justice is served with or without the involvement of the local police force.
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