The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada

After his eponymous best friend (Julio César Cedillo) is killed by a psychotic Border Patrol officer (Barry Pepper), rancher Pete Perkins (Tommy Lee Jones) kidnaps the murderer, forces him to exhume the body, and leads him south of the border so Estrada can receive a hometown burial. In crafting this existential neo-western, Jones and screenwriter Guillermo Arriaga (Amores Perros) were directly inspired by the shooting of Texan teenager Esequiel Hernandez by U.S. Marines in 1997. Jones’ directorial debut is both a taut cowboy thriller and pained, surreal reflection on the American death cult, leavened by startling moments of coal-black humor.