Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri Review - A Molotov Coctail That'll Knock You Out

The movies have always promoted screwing the moral high ground when someone you love has been raped. This theory stands especially in Bollywood, where last year we had Mom, Maatr, Kaabil, Bhoomi and Ajji. So, imagine my shock when a film that followed a rather (rather is a key word here) basic structure like those five films became an Oscar-winning portrayal of a mother’s guilt. I started to question where Bollywood went wrong in terms of this genre. Rape is an unfortunate but prevalent horror of our society. In America, 1 out of 6 women have been raped. In India, one woman is raped every 30 minutes.

The first reason why Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri is a transportive experience is the sublime Frances McDormand (Fargo, Almost Famous) who commands screen presence. There’s very little frames that don’t involve the powerhouse that the actress is and even when she’s not on screen, she makes you submit to the revelation that is Mildred Hayes, a middle age woman who wants to rebel against the police chief who’s not done anything quite a while after her daughter, Angela has been raped and ultimately killed.

There have been no arrests, and Mildred is pissed. What she does is rent three billboards on the outskirts of town, and writes on them “Raped While Dying”, “Still No Arrests?”, “How Come, Chief Willoughby?”. The police chief of this town is played by Woody Harrelson, who is in the beginning looking to end this fight with force. When he finds out the renter of these billboards that ‘defame’ him is Mildred, he realises that he’s not in the legal space to make her put them down. Harrelson and Hayes’ chemistry in the first acts of the film is what lights the screen up. He’s genuinely sweet to her and tries to make her understand that it isn’t his fault.

That’s the second triumph. Writer-director Martin McDonagh for the most part never manipulates us into being on Mildred’s side. Unlike Bollywood films where the avenging angel is always seen as the hero, McDonagh and McDormand aren’t interested in making Mildred ‘likeable’ for the audience. The sense of swagger and badass that she walks around with make you instantly drawn to her emotional story and that is because Martin’s superb writing that grounds the film and captures the nuances of smaller towns and parts of America. He writes exactly how folk down south would talk and Frances’ steely expressions and glassy eyes anchor the film and make it even more realistic.

The third win is the tumultuous and uncertain relationship between Mildred and her son Robbie, who really wants her to take the billboards down. Lucas Hedges playing her confused son is pitch perfect. He may have lesser scenes but within whatever frames he’s in and lines he has, the actor creates maximum impact. Unlike in films like Mom and Maatr, the director never forgets that ultimately the struggle/revolution that Mildred is putting up is only pioneered by Mildred. Everybody else, while rather stirred up and confused is uninvolved. There’s a plot twist involving Robbie that really broke my heart mainly because of how Hedges and McDormand portrayed their on-screen chemistry so perfectly.

The black humour of Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri helps us relates and even sneaks in a few laughs before all hell breaks loose. Some of the comedy is supplied in the earlier parts of the film by Caleb Landry Jones, playing Welby. The film is shaky in its second act and McDonagh loses his focus. There are some sparks of life but in the second half, Three Billboards becomes irrational and quite frankly unbelievable. The only two things that hold up the film are McDormand and Sam Rockwell as the racist alcoholic, Jason Dixon. His dilemma is he can’t decide if he’s a good guy or a bad guy. The last scene of the film when Mildred and Dixon take a stern decision shocked me. The last thing that I can say Three Billboards trumped any Bollywood production in would have to be that the film doesn’t end on a happy note - informing us on the realities of life. Both Mildred and Jason (Dixon) take a tough choice and decide to follow through with it, leaving the viewers hungry for more.

This is director Martin McDonagh’s victory. I’m going with 4 stars for Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. It’s a gut-wrenching knockout that will wring your heart dry and make you feel scared and cover your eyes due to the harsh realities of life.