Three Billboards Outside of Ebbing, Missouri

Movie, 2017, R

Premise – After the violent rape and murder of her daughter, an angry mother purchases three billboards to advertise the inefficacy of the Ebbing, Missouri police department. The small town grapples with the hypocrisy of those in power, corruption, and the treatment of minorities and women as the billboards reach the news. Despite all the uproar the billboards cause, no one is in more pain than the mother, Mildred Hayes, who desperately wants revenge for her daughter.

Review – If you are vaguely familiar with two things, then the film will go more or less how you would expect: 1) If you’ve watched enough Martin McDonagh, and 2) If you know the kinds of films that fancy award shows like. Put the two together and you get the tone of Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. I don’t mean this in a bad way at all; I loved this film.

It’s a slow-burning, progressive and controversial drama. That’s why award shows like it. It’s also why I don’t necessarily love all of the same films award shows do, because there is a fine line between “prestigious” and “boring.” But what this film also has in its favor is this wonderful balance of genres, dark comedy, gripping characters, and a meaningful plot. I attribute that to the wonderful mind of Martin McDonagh. 

The punchline of the joke is small-town mentality. It amazes me that this film supposedly takes place in 2017 (they all had smart phones??) because the lifestyle and sociopolitical environment felt so ancient, especially because the main characters were all from an older generation. No one intimidates me more than bitter, old ladies. The pain and suffering they’ve experienced in a misogynistic world seems to know no bounds, and as a result they become absolutely ruthless – almost. We see Mildred shows kindness to the innocent. The problem is, in her worldview, nearly every human being is culpable of something. The other dominant theme in the film is justice. According to Mildred, all people should be held accountable for everything they do, and the moment you’re culpable, you should be arrested or killed. Under the guise of justice, this is truly the mindset of revenge. She holds onto her anger and shows no mercy. With Mildred, though, this is not necessarily her fault, as her pain is so great that she has no ability to let go of her anger and move on. The only way to reprimand this mindset is to show that humans have layers, and over time can change to feature the good ones (82/100).

Quote/What to watch for – I just watched this film in theaters, so I don’t have it written down. But there’s a whole speech on culpability in gangs that is just absolutely profound.

If you liked this movie, I'd recommend The Cripple of Inishmaan!

Director: Martin McDonagh

Distribution Company: Fox Searchlight