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I picked this one up the other night and I wasn't disappointed.
This was a damn good movie!
(http://img86.imageshack.us/img86/5970/3burials0or.jpg) (http://imageshack.us)

It was directed by Tommy Lee Jones and I have to say that this is simply one of the best performances he has ever given.
When you look at the cover, you might think that this is a Western...well it is and it isn't.
The movie is set in modern times around the Texas/Mexico border.  

Here is the official synopsis:
"A man is shot and quickly buried in the high desert of west Texas. The body is found and reburied in Van Horn's town cemetery. Pete Perkins, a local ranch foreman, kidnaps a Border Patrolman and forces him to disinter the body. With his captive in tow and the body tied to a mule, Pete undertakes a dangerous and quixotic journey into Mexico."

The film is especially important because of all the recent developments of the US trying to stem the flow of illegal immigrants from Mexico.

Jones plays Pete Perkins who becomes very good friends with Melquiades.
(pronounced "Melky-ah-dess)
We see them hanging out and working together and come to understand that Melquiades is a good and decent man who is "just a cowboy" like Jones and his men...he just wants to earn a living.

(http://img93.imageshack.us/img93/6474/tommyleejones23yk.jpg) (http://imageshack.us)

When Melquiades is shot and killed by a Border Patrol officer by accident, Jones realizes that the police don't care much about some illegal Mexican.  Jones then decides to stop at nothing to find his friend's killer.
When he does, he kidnaps him at gunpoint, handcuffs him and takes him down to Mexico on horseback to bury Melquides.
The journey is extremely rough going and the border patrol agent played by Barry Pepper nearly dies during the journey.
(http://img93.imageshack.us/img93/4886/tommyleejones14qg.jpg) (http://imageshack.us)

The trip is a learning experience for both men to say the least and demonstrates just how far a man will go to honor the life of a friend.

(http://img93.imageshack.us/img93/5345/bilde6wy.jpg) (http://imageshack.us)

And yes, Melquiades is buried, then exhumed, then buried a second time and exhumed and finally buried for good the third time.

Ebert gave this film four out of four stars.
Read his review here (http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060202/REVIEWS/60117002/1023)

I highly recommend this film.  
You won't soon forget it.

Ash,

I've been wanting to see this one for quite some time.  It got a lot of critical praise upon release.  I'll have to add it to my Netflix...didn't realize it was on DVD yet.

When I first saw this on the shelf in the video store I assumed it was a straight to DVD release.
Apparently not...Ebert obviously viewed it in a theater and I have read that it was shown at Cannes.

By the way, if you thought I gave away plot spoilers in my initital post, I didn't.
There is much, much more to the film than what I have told.

If you decide to watch it...remember the final sentence asked at the end.
I still keep thinking about that sentence two days after watching it.

Damn weird movie if you ask me. I sort of liked it, but I found it more puzzling than anything else. After leaving the theatre me and my date weren't able to tell if it was the a masterpiece or if we had been cheated.

I liked the beginning, in that border town in which everything was artificial to the point of looking unreal, and the western-ish second half, but it left me with far more questions about the characters and their actions than I wanted to. I honestly couldn't say if that was the way it was supposed to be or if it was just a muddled movie.

The acting was great though (I was particularly impressed with Barry Pepper), and I'd still recommend it to anybody who likes westerns.

I was very impressed with this movie.

I have a slight disagreement with you ASH, as I would say this is a very traditional western that just happens to be set in modern times.  Well, traditional but very, very bizarre.  Still, you've got an older wiser cowboy, a greenhorn, a old grizzled prospector, a journey to Mexico while being pursued by the authorities, traditional Mexican villages... Plus, it's a tale of redemption, a common theme in westerns.

And who doesn't like seeing Barry Pepper get tortured for an hour and a half?

It's funny, the most common criticism of the movie I've seen on the web has been along the lines of people thinking the movie espoused a "Mexicans good, Americans bad" theme.  I didn't quite see it that way.  Every character in the movie runs a continuum of good/bad.  Melquiades himself we pretty much only see through the eyes of Tommy Lee Jones' character, so we can forgive the fact he seems a bit "canonized".  Still, did these people not see the end of the movie?  I don't want to spoil it for people who haven't seen it, but those specific Mexicans are not good people.

I liked the ambiguity of the movie, and the fact that not everything is explained.  Especially the motivations of Tommy Lee Jones' character, which provides the central mystery of the movie.

Great movie filled with a wealth of subtle details.  5 out of 5.

EDIT: Sorry, Ash, I misread your post about the Western thing.  I now see you said "it is and it isn't", a statment I wholeheartedly agree with.