Review of Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017) by Maria N — 25 Mar 2018

One of the exceptional films that managers to capture the perplex frame of a crime, the grief surrounding it and the ardent desire of revenge. A unique portrayal of a vindicative, strong and completely broken mother who chooses to grasp the sharp edges and form the answer to the unsolved rape and murder case through blood and tears directed by Martin McDonagh.

Nevertheless, the contradictory fight for revenge, or else justice, bounces back upon her shoulders as a rope of distraught reputation of her son, public scandals and agonizing loathings in town. The portrayal of the mother by Frances McDormand is indeed phenomenal. As its reflected in her sincere glance, an unspoken code of motherhood is revealed in her caring yet hidden. The fragility and loss of a lonely individual slips out rarely, nevertheless leaving a clear mark of pathos and empathy in the audience.

The bleak, sand, grey shades of the image only reinforce the idea of fading people in a fading, decaying town. «Three Billboards» de-romanticizes the idea of a maudlin tragedy which has become increasingly popular nowadays in cinematography, capturing the vivid good versus evil cases of sacrifice, suicide and sorrow. The mature approach that reveals the darkest, sharpest edges and the complexity of conflict over human emotions, relationships and actions.

The film may reveal footsteps of long-gone humanity and faith in it to one part of the audience, whereas the other will only recognize a disappointing feature of egoism, cruelty and giving up. The sincerity and flawed nature of the characters makes the story reflect reality, a believable, painful and anarchic case of the consequences, not the crime. «Three Billboards» leaves you in an inexorable search for human values, morality and humanity.