Stills from the movie "Three Billboards"
Mildred Hayes (Francis McDormand) lives in Ebin, Missouri, and works as a clerk at a small gift shop. They divorced because her husband, Charlie (John Hawks), cheated on a woman 30 years younger than her. Her son Robbie (Lucas Hedges) admires his mother's independence and can understand her anger, but sometimes feels it can be too extreme.
Her anger is not only her ex-husband's infidelity, but also because her teenage daughter Angela (Catherine Newton) was murdered nine months ago, but the police have been unable to find the killer, and Mildred is immersed in deep, uneasy grief. To this end, she used $5,000 to rent three billboards near her home to vent her dissatisfaction with the police.
Billboards read "Rape to Death," "Murderer Is Still At Large," and "What's Going On, Sheriff Willoughby?" ”
When Sheriff Willoughby (Woody Harrison) reads these questions about his abilities, he revisits his own criminal investigation. At Mildred's home, he explained to her that they had searched for dna from all the suspects but didn't find a match, but Mildred said he should draw blood from every man in the country. Willoughby can feel the level of her grief and the sharpness of her quest for justice, revealing that he has cancer and trying to appease her, but Mildred still refuses to remove the billboard.
Screenwriter and director Martin McDonald (who directed Killer No Vacation) has created a spiritually rich film that, more than any previous film, captures what America is like today. Topics covered included the relentless pursuit of justice, the quest for the truth, intense grief, the morally reprehensible nature of revenge, racism and the pain of rape and suicide that permeates the lives of others.
The third central character of Martin's fascinating film is Dixon (Sam Rockwell), a violent racist guy in the police department. He's still a bully and fights everywhere he goes. There is a spiritual satisfaction in seeing Dixon go from being a violent man to a man seeking justice.
According to Abraham's belief, the greatest heroism is "turning enemies into friends, from hatred to love." From doubt and fear, beyond tolerance, embracing others," Rabbi Amy Alberg wrote. We looked at Mildred and Dixon, two people surrounding each other, colliding with each other, sparks splashing around. Martin is a talented screenwriter who has written one wonderful plot after another for Francis McDormand, and Francis McDormand's ruthless ferocity in the play shows her determination to fight for her daughter's killer. As the American writer Terry Tempest Williams wrote in The Wordless Hunger, "We have the ability to respond to life in two ways, the merciless power of love." As women connected to the earth, we nurture, we are fierce, we are evil, we are sublime, and that's all about us. ”
Sam Rockwell's character is that of a police officer exposed for abusing people of color suspects and brutalizing detainees, and his comprehensive and brilliant rendition is staggering. As a result of the strange development of the story' plot, Dixon embarks on a path that brings him and Mildred together, and two resentful guys come together.
In a world where justice is often misinterpreted and hatred is celebrated as virtue, "Three Billboards" ends with elegant notes that are a redemptive for both characters. It has to be said that Martin McDonald's "Three Billboards" can be called one of the most spiritually cultural films!