The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada

-1. Overview
-2. Cast and Crew
-3. Photo Pages
-4. Trailers, Clips, DVDs, Books, Soundtrack
-5. Posters
-6. Production Notes (pdf)
-7. Spiritual Connections
-8. Presentation Downloads

The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada is one of those films that has far more going on than you can absorb in one sitting. Even a few days after watching the film, there are bits and pieces that I wonder about, knowing there is meaning that I haven't yet found. Tommy Lee Jones, in his directing debut, has created a story that can lead us in thinking about many issues-- violence and anger, racism, fidelity, redemption.

In very rural West Texas, Mike Norton, an inexperienced Border Patrol agent, kills a Mexican cowboy working on a Texas ranch. It is a mistake that never should have happened. Mike quickly covers the body. (Burial one)

Mike is the kind of person that never should have a badge of any kind. We don't know what they are, but we quickly see that his has some serious unresolved issues of some sort. He is violent, controlling, self-centered and irresponsible. He is filled with anger and hubris. We see it when he is at work and when he is at home. It is his recklessness that leads to Melquiades' death. He fails to confess or admit what has happened.

When the body is found, no one much cares about finding the killer. The Sheriff treats it as just another dead Mexican. Pete, the ranch foreman Melquiades works for, tries to get the body for burial. The Sheriff ignores him and buries the body in a county plot. (Burial two)

Pete is Melquiades's closest friend and has promised that if anything happened to him, he would take him back to his home and family in Mexico. When Pete learns the identity of the killer (whom the authorities will not arrest), he kidnaps Mike and forces him to dig up the body and they start on a trek to Mexico for the third burial. That journey is filled with as many plot turns as there are turns in the various roads they travel.

In a key scene, Pete has taken Mike and Melquiades's body to Melquiades's little house. There he makes Mike drink from Melquiades's cup and put on Melquiades's clothes. This is the beginning of the process of making Mike accountable for what he has done. He first has to understand that Melquiades was a real person -- a person with a home, who had his cup to drink out of, who had dreams and a real home.

The journey they take to Mexico is arduous, both physically and spiritually. Death is constantly with them -- in the body they carry with them and in the dangers they face. Pete has taken control of Mike's life. He has taken away his freedom, but the anger and hubris remain. It is only when Mike finally lets loose of these that he is able to come to terms with what he has done and find the seeds of forgiveness.

The story is told in semi-linear fashion. The main story of Melquiades's death and burials moves along linearly with many flashbacks showing Melquiades's life from the time he started working for Pete.

There is a subplot that involves Mike's wife and the waitress at the town diner who have a fling with Pete and Melquiades (in flashback). Both of the women are married. They provide an interesting contrast to the fidelity of Pete in keeping his promise.

The story is structured in such a way to highlight the contrasts between Mike and Melquiades. Both are bound to Pete -- Melquiades by friendship, Mike by handcuffs. We almost always see Melquiades with a smile; Mike never smiles. Melquiades cherishes the wife he is absent from; Mike abuses his. Mike is always angry; Melquiades never is. Mike is completely self-centered; Melquiades is so generous that he gives away his most valuable possession, his horse.

While there are many ways of looking at this film (and as I said at the start, many things I'm still trying to figure out), it clearly shows the need for people to acknowledge, confess and seek forgiveness for sins in order to be able to move on in their lives. Mike, while trying to cover up the crime, was stuck in the world he had built for himself. It was a world in which there was no joy.

When Pete first kidnaps Mike for this journey, it is with the idea of bringing some justice to the situation. None of the officials seemed to care. Only Pete would hold Mike accountable for what he did. But in the process, that justice is seen not only in the retribution that Pete heaps on Mike, but also in the grace and forgiveness that comes though the ordeal.

In a sense, Mike ends up in that final grave along with Melquiades's body. He is no longer the arrogant and angry man that cared so little about anyone. Instead, he has an opportunity for newness. There is the chance for resurrection -- for Mike to live again after coming so close to death.

- Overview