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The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada (2005)
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Overview
User Rating:
Release Date:
3 February 2006 (USA) moreTagline:
Nobody is beyond redemption. morePlot:
Ranch hand Pete Perkins looks to fulfill the promise to his recently deceased best friend by burying him in his hometown in Mexico. full summary | add synopsisAwards:
4 wins & 7 nominations moreNewsDesk:
(9 articles)
Melissa Leo (From The AV Club. 30 July 2008, 9:01 PM, PDT)
Stars Sing Up a Storm at Independent Spirit Awards
(From WENN. 5 March 2006)
User Comments:
Powerful and moving modern western moreCast
(Cast overview, first billed only)| Tommy Lee Jones | ... | Pete Perkins | |
| Barry Pepper | ... | Mike Norton | |
| Julio Cedillo | ... | Melquiades Estrada (as Julio César Cedillo) | |
| Dwight Yoakam | ... | Belmont | |
| January Jones | ... | Lou Ann Norton | |
| Melissa Leo | ... | Rachel | |
| Levon Helm | ... | Old Man with Radio | |
| Mel Rodriguez | ... | Captain Gomez | |
| Cecilia Suárez | ... | Rosa | |
| Ignacio Guadalupe | ... | Lucio | |
| Vanessa Bauche | ... | Mariana | |
| Irineo Alvarez | ... | Manuel (as Irineo Álvarez) | |
| Guillermo Arriaga | ... | Juan | |
| Josh Berry | ... | Border Patrolman | |
| Rodger Boyce | ... | Salesman |
Additional Details
Also Known As:
Three Burials: The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada (Australia) (DVD box title) (UK) (DVD box title)The 3 Burials of Melquiades Estrada (USA) (alternative spelling)
The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada (International: English title)
Trois enterrements (France)
more
MPAA:
Rated R for language, violence and sexuality.Parents Guide:
View content advisory for parentsRuntime:
121 min | Argentina:121 min (Mar del Plata Film Festival) | Turkey:107 min (TV version)Color:
ColorAspect Ratio:
2.35 : 1 moreCertification:
Switzerland:14 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:14 (canton of Vaud) | UK:15 | Netherlands:12 | Ireland:15A | Brazil:14 | Argentina:16 | Singapore:M18 | Australia:M | Iceland:16 | Portugal:M/16 | Canada:14A (Ontario) (Canadian Home Video rating) | Germany:12 (f) | USA:R (No. 42191) | Finland:K-13Fun Stuff
Trivia:
The screenplay was written in Spanish by Guillermo Arriaga but was translated in to English by Tommy Lee Jones. moreGoofs:
Continuity: When Norton is heading out on a solo patrol before encountering Melquiades, he drives briskly through the countryside without wearing his seatbelt. When he stops the car to get out, he unclips his seatbelt. moreQuotes:
Pete Perkins: Thank you!Old Man with Radio: I need to ask you a favor.
Pete Perkins: Anything you want.
Old Man with Radio: I need you to go ahead and shoot me. My son, he ain't coming back.
Pete Perkins: Oh, he'll come back.
Old Man with Radio: He said he had cancer. Told me to go into town with him. But I don't want to go. I've lived here all my life. I don't want to offend God by shooting myself. It's a problem, you see.
Pete Perkins: We don't want to offend God neither.
[Pete and Mike start to leave]
Old Man with Radio: You're good people. You need to go ahead and shoot me.
more
Soundtrack:
You Can't Roller Skate In A Buffalo Herd moreFAQ
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The "Three burials of Melquiades Estrada" is a multi-layered story of death, retribution, loneliness, and remembrance. Although it takes place in modern day Texas, its main character Pete Perkins, superbly played by Tommy Lee Jones, seems to be living resolutely in the past. He is determined to seek justice for his best friend's death and forces the guy responsible for to a journey across the borders in Mexico to locate the village of the deceased for a proper burial. This journey will bring forward the stark contrast between the values of two ways of life and the landscape transversed is both geographical and emotional.
Modern civilization throughout the film is mainly represented by 4WD cars, sniper rifles, dinners, shopping malls, trailers, and TV-sets incessantly showing soap operas, while the characters revelling into those manifestations are invariably emotionally numb, disaffected people, trapped to a perfunctory life from which they seem unable or unwilling to escape. Concomitantly the values of the old west, based on friendship, loyalty and commitment have ebbed, though they are still existent as embodied by the relationship of Pete with his best friend. Pete is forced to pursue his own sense of justice after being repeatedly scorned by the contemptuous behavior of the authorities towards him and his demand for rightful punishment of the culprit, a cool, violence prone and emotionally detached border-guard.
The story is masterly told in a sturdy manner that perfectly serves the complexity of the excellent screenplay by an apposite use of flashbacks and wonderfully shot sequences. All the performances are top notch in their expressive minimalism, greatly contributing to the lasting emotional impact of this outstanding film.