Movie Review - The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada

The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada (4 of 5): Three Burials opens with a rather confusing first half hour of flashbacks and character introductions, but after that, this movie gets pretty darn good! Directed by Tommy Lee Jones, this film is about a cowboy (Pete Jones) who is friends with an illegal Mexican immigrant cowboy (Estrada) that is killed by a reckless US Border Patrol agent (Mike Norton). The murder and ensuing cover up of his friend's death doesn’t sit well with Pete, so he kidnaps Norton and forces him to exhume Estrada’s corpse. The rest of the movie follows Pete in his efforts to get Estrada back to Mexico for a proper burial and force Norton to understand and take responsibility for his actions. This is a really good movie and I was very impressed with Tommy Lee Jones’ performance. He does a great job playing a weathered cowboy and you’ll ask yourself if his character isn’t just a little bit crazy in the head. There is also some beautiful cinematography in this movie that will make you want to move out west. Overall, this movie is a great story about friendship and reconciliation.