Inconsolable grief

Rating: 9/10 (19 April 2018)

It's ironic that the first of Frances McDormand's Oscars came for her portrayal of a
sheriff in Fargo. For her second one she plays the antagonist to a sheriff she
feels isn't doing her job. The sheriff is a most popular individual in the town,
Woody Harrelson. But this is a woman with a mission.
None of the people in Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri are of any kind of
heroic stature. They're just I suspect as ordinary as any of us with our good points and bad. One of them, Deputy Sam Rockwell is one unapologetic
racist who uses his badge to harass and assault folks of a different skin tone.
He's McDormand's greatest antagonist and in the end the two come to an
interesting relationship.
McDormand is a mother who just can't accept the loss of her daughter. I'm the
son of one who never got over the loss of her daughter. But my sister died of
natural causes, McDormand's teen daughter went out one night against parental advice and was raped and murdered.
That was months ago and there's no accepting her loss for McDormand. She
got her Best Actress Oscar not just for words spoken, but for some incredible
body language and facial expressions. Her rage at what she sees is the lack of
interest by law enforcement will not be abated.
So what she has done is out of whatever money she has scraped up together is
pay for three large billboards outside the main thoroughfare of the town of
Ebbing, Missouri calling attention to the lack of progress on her daugher's
homicide and getting personal with Chief Woody Harrelson. Harrelson in turn
has some personal problems of a serious nature which the town knows about
and the sympathy that McDormand might have had is turning to resentment
toward her.
Her grief isn't the only thing that has turned McDormand into the unpleasant
creature she is. Her husband John Hawkes who seems to be no great prize
himself left her for a 19 year old chippie. Her son Lucas Hedges is also feeling
alienated from both parents.
There's no such place as Ebbing, Missouri but the uniformly fine ensemble of
players sure makes you think you're in mid country America looking in on a place that's a cross between Grover's Corner in Our Town and Winesburg, Ohio
in the 21st century. Of course the cast is topped by Oscar winners Frances McDormand for Best Actress and Sam Rockwell for Best Supporting Actor.
Woody Harrelson also got an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor
and the film was nominated in a bunch of other categories including Best
Picture.
See this one by all means.