vicious, Vicious, and very funny!

I think I thought I little more highly of the film than you do (though one thing that bugged me, and that you -- err, Mr. Jones -- didn't bring up, is the use of titles: "the first burial", "the second burial"...), but your criticisms are spot on.

Barry Pepper's border patrolman could have been a great character, if Arriga hadn't written him as a racist jerk who half-rapes his wife, punches Mexican women in the face, and probably strangles baby coyotes for fun, right after jerking off to a copy of Hustler... on the job.

My favourite scenes were the few with Melquiades' corpse: grotesquery incongruous with everything else in the film!

There may be a future for you yet, Mr. Jones!

I was actually grateful for the over-literary titles. When I saw "The Third Burial...", I knew the film was almost over and I'd be free to leave.

I think the point when I knew I hated the film was when January Jones hooked up with Melquiades. It was then that I knew I was not watching a serious film.

Wow, you guys are way off! The movie plays like a classic greek tale of redemtion. I found it pretty darn entertaining. Now don't get me wrong, there were more than a few obvious signs that this was Jones' directorial debut but all and all I found it a refreshing change from the usual stuff in theaters.

I dunno, man. I understand that it's about redemption and all that (Jones couldn't be more obvious about that, especially in the last scene)... but when a pivotal scene in the evolution of Pepper's character hinges on him recognizing a bad soap opera that he was too busy near-raping his wife to notice the first time it showed up... forgive me if I'm not sold. (And that's not even counting the inanity of said soap opera, both as a plot device and as an easy way for Arriga to crack us upside the head with his Irony Slugger.)

I thought this an absolute first rate movie--the land as much a character as the people in it. And well, those racist bigots who think so dern much of themselves and so little of others DO exist, in just that way. It isn't that they are just ignorant, they actually believe no one matters except for themselves...check battered women's shelters if you think that border patrol character isn't a dime a dozen. TL Jones makes one heck of a movie and tells one fine tale. Watched the movie because he is one of my favorite actors, bought the DVD because it is now one of my favorite films.