{"id":1519,"date":"2009-04-12T21:50:11","date_gmt":"2009-04-12T20:50:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mcrrview.web.its.manchester.ac.uk\/blog\/?p=383"},"modified":"2016-01-24T18:28:45","modified_gmt":"2016-01-24T17:28:45","slug":"the-burning-plain-dir-guillermo-arriaga","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=1519","title":{"rendered":"The Burning Plain<\/em> (2008), dir. Guillermo Arriaga"},"content":{"rendered":"

There are some writers whose work is identifiable within the space of a couple of sentences. Guillermo Arriaga makes his directorial debut with The Burning Plain<\/em>, but it\u2019s a film that\u2019s also almost instantly identifiable, bearing as it does the same hallmarks as the numerous films he\u2019s written. Anybody who\u2019s seen Babel<\/em>, The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada<\/em>, 21 Grams<\/em> or Amores Perros<\/em> will find it hard to stifle a sense of d\u00e9j\u00e0 vu at the emotionally scarred characters, the desolate landscapes both urban and rural, the anti-erotic nudity and the fractured chronology that will eventually explain the seemingly motiveless behaviour of the characters.<\/p>\n

The Burning Plain<\/em> doesn\u2019t strive for the grandiosely global narrative of Babel (and, thankfully, doesn\u2019t have any characters quite as obnoxious as Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett\u2019s American tourists), focussing instead on a coastal town in Oregon and an unnamed town somewhere near the Mexican border. However, unlike Babel, it manipulates time a great deal more \u2013 what seem to be three separate narratives are eventually revealed to be two, only separated by twelve years.<\/p>\n

Arriaga\u2019s direction makes fine use of the large screen, and of a largely strong cast. At the heart of the film is an excellent performance by Charlize Theron as Sylvia, a sommelier in an upper class restaurant who has a propensity for self-harm and fruitless relationships. Her character proves the link between the present and the past, as she is faced with a daughter she abandoned, who in turn forces her to confront an even bigger secret she\u2019s repressed for years. Her story is interweaved with the past narrative about an affair between a Mexican man and an American housewife who\u2019s recently undergone a mastectomy and its repercussions for their two families. This past strand is hampered somewhat by Kim Basinger as the housewife \u2013 whether through botox, cosmetic surgery or simply poor direction, her face remains expressionless throughout, meaning we never really get drawn into her emotional quandary. However, this is a minor gripe, as it\u2019s offset by strong performances from Jennifer Lawrence as her daughter and J.D. Pardo as the Mexican\u2019s son, who embark on their own troubled affair.<\/p>\n

I won\u2019t spoil the film\u2019s major surprise, but I will say that it has a happy ending, or potentially happy at least, just as Babel<\/em> did, and this weakens it. It\u2019s hard to escape the feeling that Arriaga in his last two films as writer or director is playing with time and crosscut narratives for no better reason than to provide a false redemption for his characters \u2013 it doesn\u2019t matter how bad a thing you\u2019ve done in the past, skilful editing can still make you look like the innocent party. It\u2019s a cheap trick to play and one that suggests that though his films are now so similar in structure and subject matter that they\u2019re being written to a formula, he\u2019s lost the courage to challenge the audience with the resolutely unhappy endings that are truer to the materials he works with.<\/p>\n

It seems inevitable that Arriaga\u2019s next film will be much the same, which would be a shame. I\u2019d much rather see him try something new and challenging \u2013 if he wants to show people as essentially good, why not try a comedy of fractured chronology? \u2013 but if he\u2019s not going to be so bold, he\u2019d do well to rediscover the nihilistic edge that, with the help of Tommy Lee Jones’s direction, made The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada<\/em><\/a> one of the best films of the decade.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There are some writers whose work is identifiable within the space of a couple of sentences. Guillermo Arriaga makes his directorial debut with The Burning Plain, but it\u2019s a film that\u2019s also almost instantly identifiable, bearing as it does the same hallmarks as the numerous films he\u2019s written. Anybody who\u2019s seen Babel, The Three Burials […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":[]},"categories":[14,283],"tags":[36,41,70,252],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe Burning Plain (2008), dir. 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