CAC Movie Review: "The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada"

The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada is a highly lauded film that was nominated for the prestigious Golden Palm award at the Cannes Film Festival. While Tommy Lee Jones did not win the award for his direction of this film, he did take home the best actor award at Cannes. Also winning an award for this film is Guillermo Arriaga for the film's script.

Jones plays Pete Perkins who manages a small-time cattle business. Perkins hires Melquiades Estrada, an illegal Mexican immigrant, to help with the labor. Perkins and Estrada become close friends, despite their cultural differences. In a tragic incident involving a rookie Border Patrol agent, played by Barry Pepper, Estrada is shot and killed. Once Perkins sees that the local sheriff, played by Dwight Yoakam, is not going to take action to bring justice to Estrada's murderer, he decides to distribute justice himself. He kidnaps the Border Patrol agent and forces him to dig Estrada out of his grave. Traveling with the corpse on horseback, the two set out for a town in Mexico where Estrada's family resides; the plan is to give Estrada a proper funeral and burial. The agent begins the journey as a prisoner, but, through a serious of self-realizations, he soon discovers that he has been a prisoner to prejudices, hatred, and insecurities for as long as he can remember.

Following the movie is a discussion on illegal immigration. To Perkins, Estrada was not just an illegal Mexican; he was an equal, a friend. The agent finds this fact extremely hard to grasp. Just because Estrada was an illegal, he is still viewed as a human being and not some elusive plague that most of the American public tends to view illegal immigrants as. The discussion will touch on the socially predominant perception that equates Mexican immigrants with America's problems. As a responsible member of this society, which is becoming increasingly more diverse, it is important to participate in a dialogue of opposing viewpoints on the issue. Please stay after the movie for this discussion.

The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada is rated R for language, violence, and sexuality. As always, the film is Friday night at 10 p.m. and Saturday night at 9 p.m.