It's very hard for me to decide whether The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada is a loving Don Quixote-influenced homage or a brilliantly ambitious meta-film sendup of indie movies where long journeys purport to have deep spiritual impact (e.g. The Straight Story). One thing that seems to point to the latter is the mysterious presence of television in the film. I can't quite understand why characters are shown watching television so often - at the beginning, Melquiades is enraptured by a television store that has the classic TV display in the front window. Near the middle, we come upon some hunters or ranchers or something that are huddled around a beat-up pickup truck with a tiny television attached to the car battery - they are watching a program in English despite the fact that none of them appear to know English.
This last scene gets to what the film's major theme appears to be - self-created artifice and illusion versus reality - that we require so many illusions to sustain our lives, whether it's the illusory images of television, the belief that a prostitute actually loves us, or that the last wishes of a friend must indeed be honored, regardless of what lengths we must go through to honor them. Yet this story is told where so many things happen in 'movie-land' - that special kind of non-logic that characters have to employ because damn it if they didn't there'd be no movie. As it turns out, we are watching illusions of illusions.
As a quixotically inspired film, it spends too much time being serious, and as a parody, it feels like a waste of time. More movies should be made that attempt such odd things, but I don't necessarily have to or want to watch them.
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well can't blame the director for trying. sounds like he was fairly heavy handed.
ReplyDeletethe straight story approach is tough, i think, because the character who embarks on the journey needs to reach the audience at all times.
Interesting. I never thought about the meta-film sendup angle. I'm going to have to rewatch it with that in mind.
ReplyDeleteThis may sound random and unrelated, but have you seen Lonesome Dove? I highly, highly recommend it if you haven't. You'll know why I asked after you watch it.
re: meta-film - i mean, why else are we dragged through this long film where it turns out the hunt was for a place that didn't exist? that 'jimenez' is within ourselves? that's probably a more likely interpretation, since the movie is a waste of time as a meta-film, but i thought it an interesting angle.
ReplyDeletehave not seen lonesome dove, on it goes to the list.