Is righteous anger really worth it? Can those with homophobic, racist, intolerant views truly change their thoughts?
Martin McDonagh’s Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri attempts to answer those two questions. This film wishes to tackle real issues that plague not only America, but the rest of the world as well; issues relating to anger, rage, senseless violence, police brutality, racism, and hate.
Essentially, Three Billboards is about a mother, Mildred Hayes, whose daughter was raped and killed one night while walking home from an outing. As a response, Mildred puts up three billboards that question why the police have made no arrests but also claim that this is due to police negligence. Throughout the film, we follow Mildred and her quest for justice and witness her drive to receive it.
Three Billboards has been received incredibly well, including Best Picture wins from the Golden Globes and BAFTA Awards, and should do quite well at the Academy Awards this March where it received nominations for Best Picture, Best Actress, two nominations for Best Actor in a Supporting Role, Best Original Score, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Achievement in Film Editing.
All of these nominations are very well deserved, and I would be surprised if the film doesn’t at the very least win Best Actress for Frances McDormand and Best Supporting Actor for Sam Rockwell.
Speaking of actors and actresses, Three Billboards features an outstanding cast, perhaps the best of 2017. The SAG awards even recognized the film as having the most Outstanding Cast of the year, which I think is rightfully deserved.
Frances McDormand plays Mildred Hayes, a yelling, alcoholic, brash mother who wants nothing more than for the “police to do their job” and frequently lashes out in blind anger whenever she is wronged or doesn’t get her way.
McDormand really brings this character to life, and, in my opinion, results in the most real performance of the year, greater than that of Gary Oldman’s role as Winston Churchill in Darkest Hour. Her violent rage becomes her and even though this rage is slightly comedic, it’s still believable and effective.
Frances McDormand as Mildred Hayes, Fox Searchlight
Sam Rockwell also stars as Officer Dixon and is pretty much a shoe-in for Best Supporting Actor. Officer Dixon is a slightly moronic but, somehow, competent cop who definitely holds a few prejudices against other races and sexual orientations. As a result. he engages in police brutality before learning that he must change his ways if he wants to truly become what he strives to be.
Rockwell portrays this character archetype amazingly, and easily gives the most heartfelt performance of the whole film, which is saying something for a film full of emotions, opinions, and feelings.
One particular aspect that accentuates the excellence of the actors is the masterful writing from Martin McDonagh. McDonagh makes very tactful character decisions that not only include a decent amount of humor but also address the true seriousness of the situation.
As an example, Mildred Hayes walks into a police station and unleashes a tirade upon the officers of Ebbing, calling them some hilarious names, but still maintaining an angry tone. When you see these types of scenes in other films (Marvel movies, for instance) the tone completely shifts and distracts from the main message of the movie, and I’m glad McDonagh had enough confidence and focus to keep the tone of the film solemn and serious while still incorporating some hilarious humor.
The screenplay for Three Billboards has some stiff competition from Lady Bird and Get Out for Best Original Screenplay, and while I think Lady Bird will take home the gold, I certainly wouldn’t be surprised to see Three Billboards receive the nod.
The score for the film is also written extremely well, including not some really grungy acoustic pieces and reflective, sentimental tunes as well. My favorite is definitely “Mildred Goes To War,” which is reprised a few times through the film.
It reminds me of the Dirty South, along with this grungy, Eminem-type beat that still works. Carter Burwell was nominated for Best Score, deservingly so, but unfortunately he faces stiff competition from The Shape of Water and Phantom Thread.
Now, let’s go over some of the symbolism and themes from Three Billboards.
SPOILERS AHEAD
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I find the main themes of the film to be anger and its response.
Frequently throughout the narrative, we see Mildred lash out against major and minor characters, voicing her displeasure and sometimes physically abusing anyone who stands in her way. All this does, however, is make her more receptive to the hate that she’s been receiving, driving her to lash out even more than she already has.
Then, later in the film, we’re introduced to the quote “anger begets greater anger,” which so perfectly personifies Mildred. Her continued fits of rage only lead to more rage and hate, something she doesn’t necessarily want, but subconsciously endorses nonetheless.
Yet, until we see Mildred finally realize the consequences of her anger, nearly burning Dixon alive (who she finds only wanted to help her,) she finds that anger can easily be misplaced and that anger's intentions (while they can start out noble and focused) can become muddied and inconstant.
Instead, calling back to the quote “anger begets greater anger,” we must not respond to anger with anger, but with love. This is exactly how Dixon meets Hayes' anger in his detective work to find her daughter’s killer, and while the suspect ultimately was not “the guy,” Dixon gave Mildred something she hadn’t felt in a while: hope.
Another message that I believe Three Billboards wants to convey is that, in a world where so many people have hateful, racist, or homophobic viewpoints, these people are not dug-in forever. These people can still change. We see this through Dixon’s character and his redemption arc.
In Chief Willoughby’s dying letter to Dixon, he claims that if he keeps holding hate in his heart, he’ll never become what he truly wants to be: a detective. Additionally, without letting go of the hate in his heart, Dixon would have never given Hayes the hope she had never felt, ultimately being counterproductive for not just himself, but Hayes as well.
This draws shocking parallels with today’s world where the privileged look down upon others such as those who are LGBT, or of a different skin color. Not only does this inhibit the progress that these groups want to make, but it also stifles the ability for the individual to be a fully capable thinker who hopes to achieve his/her goals.
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SPOILERS END HERE
IS IT WORTH IT?
Overall, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri is a brilliant commentary on anger that also is very telling of the current social issues that the world faces and attempts to explain that not only are these issues hateful but also counterproductive. The cast is great, the directing is great, the writing is great, and the film is just overall great and certainly deserving of at least a few Academy Awards.
