Posted on 05/22/2005 9:21:20 PM PDT by calcowgirl
CANNES, France (Reuters) - Tommy Lee Jones explores often the brutal life along the U.S.-Mexican border, playing a Texas ranch foreman in a powerful film he also directs that made its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival on Friday.
"The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada" deftly slips back and forth between English and Spanish dialogue with a refreshing portrayal of frontier realities in both countries.
"There is a lot of misunderstanding and prejudice on both sides of the border," said Jones, a Hollywood stalwart who doubled as director for the first time on a major cinema film.
"This tries to point out that's probably not a good thing. A lot of people who live there, when asked to characterise the border, say 'What border?' It's just a river. It's the same country on both sides and the same culture on both sides."
Jones, 58, plays a likeable if taciturn west Texas ranch foreman named Pete Perkins, who speaks fluent Spanish and harbours no ugly prejudices about Mexicans.
But his friend, a ranch hand who immigrated from Mexico, is shot near the border due to a clumsy error by a zealous U.S. border patrol guard. His body is buried twice in Texas before Perkins discovers who killed him and the cover-up that followed.
Taking matters into his own hands, Perkins kidnaps the border guard and forces him to exhume his friend's rotting body. He takes the guard and corpse on a horseback journey well south of the border to the Mexican's hometown for a proper burial.
They all undergo changes -- especially the decaying corpse. The once-menacing border guard played by Barry Pepper makes enlightened discoveries about people south of the U.S. border.
"These are themes that are close to us and where we live," said Jones. "We worked hard to polish the dialogue and get the rhythm right in Spanish and English."
Pepper said he spent weekends away from the set with the Mexican family of Julio Cesar Cedillo, the man he shoots in the film. As on screen, Pepper's off-duty forays into Mexico opened his eyes to prejudices at the border and the warmth of Mexicans.
"When we'd cross the border to the U.S. with me driving, I'd be able to drive right through, but when Julio drove, we'd get stopped and asked 100 questions and the car would be searched," he said.
"It was primarily the poverty that initially overwhelmed me, just 100 yards away from the border you'd see abject poverty," Pepper said. "But the culture, the beauty of Mexico and the love I felt being welcomed was overwhelming and eye-opening for me."
Tommy Lee Jones was Harvard Man and Al Gore's roomate.
That says it all!
TLJ is a pompous commie. He may be from West Texas, but his head has been up his backside ever since he "went Hollywood."
Did the FOOL every stop to ask WHY there is such abject poverty in a nation with the 9th largest economy in the world? Did he??? Why can't Mexico house, clothe, feed, and educate its own people? What is stopping them? Damn their bleeding hearts; liberals are so incapable of thinking with their heads? For any liberal reading this, ask yourself, WHY?? Why is there such poverty in Mexico's mestizo and black population???
Putting TLJ on "whose films not to watch" list. Anybody got some spare paper you can FReepmail me? This list is getting quite long. :-)
And that's a shame, too.
I just watched Lonesome Dove again over the weekend.
Him and Duvall...I sure do want to like those guys and they just break my heart.
He might use his imagination to explore the wayus in which the MEXICAN UPPER CLASS has hogged the resources of the country.
Hate to say it again: SHUT UP HIPPY!!
His mom lives in Midland (nice casa) and he visits her from time to time. Sometimes, he condescends to mingle with "commoners" and usually behaves like a d*ck. I remember when he attended the annual CAF airshow in Midland; he didn't bother to leave his limo lest he come into contact with one of us in the "unwashed masses."
Close the borders, period.
"He might use his imagination to explore the wayus in which the MEXICAN UPPER CLASS has hogged the resources of the country."
Now why would he want to point the finger at the vile, corrupt leeches (government officials and their sleazy pals) who have secured the benefits of the country only for themsleves? Hey, its okay that they keep their people down because they (corrupt government anus routes) are socialists and they *care* about the people while they live in gated communities away from the squalor that they created. They day that Mexico gets a true representative government is they day that most of their problems disappear.
>>A lot of misunderstanding on both sides of the border? So the answer is to portray a US Border Patrol as a wild-eyed murdering redneck and the illegal mexican as a sweet gentle victim.
I thought exactly the same thing.
"Did the FOOL every stop to ask WHY there is such abject poverty in a nation with the 9th largest economy in the world?"
Oh the poverty in Mexico is all due to the "Evil Gringo's..
......don'tcha know?
Oh but this film will be the darling of various film festivals
First of all, the reason they treat him so well is because he's the American, which equals CASH.
Furthermore, of course they wouldn't stop him at the border, yet question Julio. He's an American, and a well known actor. Julio is, for all the border police know, a mexican.
"'What border?' It's just a river. It's the same country on both sides and the same culture on both sides."
Well, folks, this is a no-brainer that apparently TLJ fails to recognize. If he's trying to convince himself that these illegal immigrants cross the border because they don't recognize it as such, and the mexicans believe it's all the same country, than TLJ is smokin' some serious weed.
I'm sure that the only reason illegals travel to the other side of the river, though it's the same country of course, with just the clothes on their backs is because it leaves them with more arm space to carry items from Target back home after a long day of shopping.
Perhaps Mr. Jones will move to South America.</s>
Refresh my memory on your tagline. I know that it comes from a movie, but I cannot remember which film.
There's no place for Hollywood-style sentimentality on the Southwest border. Cheap emotion isn't going to help the poor people of Mexico and it's an insult to everyone's intelligence.
I believe it's from "Animal House."
"It was primarily the poverty that initially overwhelmed me, just 100 yards away from the border you'd see abject poverty,"
They did it to their country now they're here to do it to ours.
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