(582'220 votes)A mother personally challenges the local authorities to solve her daughter's murder when they fail to catch the culprit.
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri released theatrically in November 2017 (USA) and January 2018 (UK) distributed by Fox Searchlight Pictures was a box office hit that grossed $160 worldwide. This crime drama film was written, co-produced, and directed by Martin McDonagh starring Frances McDormand (The protagonist playing Mildred Hayes), Kathryn Newton (The victim playing Angela Hayes), Woody Harrelson (Chief Bill Willoughby), Sam Rockwell (Police Officer Jason Dixon) et al. was acclaimed by critics. The Oscar, The Golden Globe Award, The BAFTA Award, The SAG Award, The Academy Award and The Critic’s Choice Award winner movie with an excellent rating of 8.1/10 on IMDB and 91% on Rotten Tomatoes (based on 412 reviews) is a renegade masterpiece and is a must watch for any cinephile.
PLOT
The movie based in the fictional town of Ebbing, Missouri shows the grieving mother Mildred Hayes whose daughter Angela Hayes has been a victim of rape and murder. Even though 7 long months have passed since this heinous crime, the Police Chief Willoughby and Police Officer Dixon in charge of the case fail to investigate thoroughly and find the perpetrator. An angry and frustrated Mildred, then rents 3 billboards outside her house on each of which she posts “RAPED WHILE DYING”, “AND STILL NO ARRESTS?” and “HOW COME CHIEF WILLOUGHBY?” which upsets many including the Police. Despite being harassed and threatened, Mildred makes sure that the billboards stay intact. Eventually, an enraged Dixon threatens Red Welby who rented the billboards to Mildred. Meanwhile, Chief Willoughby finds out about his pancreatic cancer and confronts to Mildred about not having any involvement in Angela’s rape and murder. Following this, the Chief takes his own life to save his family from the upcoming rough days and leaves several suicidal notes one of which was meant for Mildred that says that she was not anyhow responsible for his suicide even though she questioned his character and how he secretly paid for a month’s rent for the billboards to stay. Later, when someone torches up the billboards Mildred furiously lights up the Police station throwing Molotov cocktails suspecting it to be Dixon’s malicious action. One day in the bar, when Dixon hears a man bragging about raping and killing a girl in the same way as Angela, he notes down his Idaho plate and provokes him into a fight. He scratches the man’s face with his nails to get a DNA sample to match the one found on Angela’s corpse but the test result comes out as a mismatch. Dixon reaches out to Mildred and they set out for Idaho to kill that man so that they can avenge and serve justice to the girl who was a victim of rape and murder just like Mildred’s Angela…
WHY YOU SHOULD WATCH IT
The film tells the tale of a mother who is shattered by the rape and murder of her daughter and all the systems built in the first place to serve justice fail to do so. But ironically, when she decides to fight the fight alone and tries to stand strong despite how broken she already is, the society and the system break all hell loose on her with threats, harassment, hate, and rage. The screenplay is nothing uncommon or unheard of. This is the everyday news of every newspaper or news channel. While some of these ghastly instances come to the public knowledge, many others go unnoticed and maybe unreported. When more than half of the mothers of the rape victims give up, the character of Mildred is worth watching. Her unbreakable will, strong headed attitude and undying spirit that put a big question on the Police force is praiseworthy. Her actions were nothing but a tight slap on the face of the system that failed her and her daughter. Even though her own daughter was denied justice, Mildred set out to avenge someone else’s daughter. During the entire course of time she broke quite a few laws and chose ways that were somehow illegal but then comes the million dollar question, “Is not it because the law and the legal ways failed her?” As a woman, I urge you to watch the film because now when I am writing this, just the thought of what all those victims and their mothers must have gone through sends chills down my spine…
