«Three Billboards: The Panels of Vengeance»

Nine months ago, just outside Ebbing, Missouri, Angela Hayes was raped and murdered. The investigation revealed nothing. The criminal still prowls unhindered; the memory of the young victim remains without justice. Her mother, Mildred Hayes (Frances McDormand), cannot accept this. Especially since the police seem more concerned with discriminating against blacks or walking around with a proud face. Mildred gathers her few savings to rent three huge signs on the road to the disaster.

«Raped while dying,» reads the first, in capital letters on an aggressive orange background. The other two question the police's lack of seriousness, taking direct aim at Sheriff Willoughby (Woody Harrelson). The latter, who is highly respected by all his fellow citizens, takes the attack on him badly. He is, in fact, terminally ill with cancer. Mildred's delicate, passionate situation earns her the enmity of the town's various authorities. Especially Officer Dixon (Sam Rockwell), who takes the attack to heart and wants to make the vengeful mother's life a nightmare. But he's up against a tough cookie who's ready to fight back.

A good stylistic start with no follow-up

The film by the equally talented and macabre director Martin McDonagh gets off to a promising start in terms of style. Still shots follow one another in slow succession. One by one, the three dilapidated panels announce a piercing, dark tone. Interposed with these shots are those of the gray sky, the close-up image of the baby on one of the panels, and the green but painful fields.

Shortly afterwards, a moving car is filmed from above by a camera mounted on its roof. The technique is original. It also suggests a focus on the main character, Mildred. However, while these early sequences are full of good taste, the work is not continued in the rest of the film. That's certainly disappointing.

The director manages, however, to maintain throughout the film an amazing atmosphere of western. With shots of the heroine's defiant eyes and shots from behind, the quintessential American genre receives a worthy tribute in Three Billboards: The Panels of Vengeance. The overwhelming red skies of Missouri elegantly nurture a movement close to the neo-western.

Grey souls

As for the theme, it seems at first sight to be an interesting set-up for a sober, captivating story. In the first part of the film, however, it lays the groundwork for some disturbing clichés. Racism, homophobia and corruption are not the hallmarks of the southern states, even though they are rooted in reality. Yet this is what the viewer might be led to believe when he sees that Mildred, a feminist figure, indirectly complains about the fate of blacks in her town; or that Dixon spends his time teasing a dwarf, insulting homosexuals and even defenestrating one; or, finally, that the only city authority who looks brave and clean is of African-American origin.

On the contrary, the Manichean caricature comes to a screeching halt in the second half of the film. In the end, each character reveals his or her infinite complexity and infected wounds. Human beings are shown in their clumsy quest for happiness, with guilty bitterness and innocent desires for vengeance. In the words of writer Philippe Claudel, Three Billboards: The Panels of Vengeance paints a picture of ’gray souls« - no one being all black and white.

- Dixon, are you sure you want to kill this guy?
- Not really.