This began with murder … a particularly repugnant murder, with the additional crimes of rape and arson thrown in. It’s important to remember that. Perhaps it’s easier to see the root of evil when the reaction takes movie form and not, say, BLM or kneeling football players. There is little more human than reacting to the pain you feel rather than its true source, and there seems little more American than letting the world know you’re dissatisfied. Right now, our national motto may as well be, “I’m pissed off.” We work angry, we play angry, we even vote angry … and few films in 2017 have captured this American ethos quite like Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri.
Mildred (Frances McDormand) is the mother of the victim. There’s an intense and unique awful that accompanies outliving your children. No one denies her pain or anger. However, many citizens of Ebbing would just-as-soon live without her frustration, exhibited in a series of unused billboards on the outskirts of town. For $5,000, she managed to buy a month (downgraded from a year) of three consecutive billboards with large block lettering reading:
“RAPED WHILE DYING,”
“STILL NO ARRESTS,”
“HOW COME, CHIEF WILLOUGHBY?”
And if that doesn’t get your attention, not a single thing will.
As it turns out, Chief Willoughby (Woody Harrelson) is hardly a villain. In fact, the cancer-stricken, loving-husband, father-of-two is exactly the opposite, to which Mildred shrugs, “the buck stops here.” You can imagine how much Chief Willoughby and his subordinate ape Dixon (Sam Rockwell) enjoy the 1,000 point font; how would you like it if somebody took the trouble to advertise how much you suck at your job? And how far is Ebbing from Ferguson, anyway? This is going to get ugly before it gets better.
There are two things I truly adore about Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. The first is the amount of humor in the film. I would have guessed that no movie involving suicide, arson, and a series of assaults all centered around a rape/murder would have an ounce of humor. Boy, was I wrong. There are not only dark laughs in this film; there are a few very pointed comic moments that take aim, respectively, at police brutality and church hypocrisy. You’ve got to have real control over the material to play with said gambit.
The second, and more important part, is the portrayals – real and rich and human. Mildred ain’t no saint. She knows it; we know it. The billboard stunt will get attention, but completely in the wrong direction. And is this what you want? Your daughter isn’t coming back – making others feel pain won’t heal yours. Consequently, as with human nature, the town has mixed reaction – some root Mildred on, many more can’t stand the public embarrassment of Chief Willoughby. And this is the most important part – regardless of the town battle, nobody reopens the case. Some cases are dogs; that is that. There are unsolved murders all the time in the United States; it’s a fact of life. Ah, but what do we do? Attack anyone, anything … just to send a message, just to spread the pain and share the hate. Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri is a clinic in myopic American behavior. No, don’t bother investigating the crime or anything; let’s attack the person making us feel bad. This film could well be a metaphor for BLM, Occupy Wall Street, #MeToo or any number of causes arisen out of legitimate pain only to see backlash not against the crime, but against the cause. God forbid we ever investigate the root of anything. That wouldn’t satisfy our collective need to inflict.
Three Billboards reminds me of Do the Right Thing in the understanding that no one ever does the right thing. Our instinct to return the pain we feel like some sort of metaphysical tennis rally may well be as natural as breathing, but it probably isn’t doing us any favors.
Hateful, challenging, and oddly sympathetic, Frances McDormand gives her best work since Fargo. I expect a nomination out of this role. With a bare minimum of hype, Woody Harrelson has quietly had one of the greatest years in cinematic history. I’m not gonna qualify that at all. Four quality and nearly iconic roles this year (Three Billboards, Wilson, The Glass Castle, War for the Planet of the Apes, and the as yet unseen LBJ); pick any actor in history and they would die for the year 
Woody has had – and Woody has nailed everything. This is probably the only role he will get Oscar consideration for, so I do hope there’s at least two acting nominations arising from Three Billboards, but it looks like Sam Rockwell would take the second — which is only a shame in that it ignores the historical brilliance of Woody’s year.
Given a freebie for a one-time one-month billboard rental, what would your message be? Advertise a business? Political message? Personal thought? Accusation? What do you want random passers-by to know or experience? I think I’d want to keep it simple. Probably a thought, not an advertisement or a plug. I’d want to avoid character assassination, personal preference, or ranting; I have the blog for those. I would want to promote a message, a positive message like, “LOVE IS BETTER THAN HATE.” Of course, it would almost certainly come out as, “BE EXCELLENT TO EACH OTHER … and … PARTY ON, DUDES!” Yes, that is what I’d put on a billboard. Well, either that or a really good cheesecake recipe.
In a hamlet of little renown
A livid mom paints the chief as a clown
If you see her words handy
You’ll see they’re not dandy
At least you’re on the way out of town
Rated R, 115 Minutes
Director: Martin McDonagh
Writer: Martin McDonagh
Genre: The insufferability of life
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: People who see the shades of humanity
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: Pure advocates
