McDonagh, in all of his nobility, is a crusader - claiming long-awaited justice for the tragically misunderstood male bigot.īut there’s nothing tragically misunderstood about Sam Rockwell’s Dixon. But, by the film’s end, it’s clear that McDonagh is much more interested in the character arcs of men - specifically, one who is both racist and sexist. “Three Billboards” starts as a revenge tale spearheaded by Mildred, driven to expose the systematic erasure of sexual violence against women. (This calls to mind an important question: Why does McDonagh have to make such an effort to write “ strong ” women characters? The answer is probably more of his same desire to “save” women from historical underrepresentation.
Halfway through the film, Mildred fades into the background in favor of a much more simplistic and much less fascinating character: Sam Rockwell’s Dixon. Her anti-heroism works well until her character is sidelined, shoved into a representational pigeonhole that subverts any kind of progressivism that first made her shine. She’s not exactly likeable, and she shouldn’t have to be - women are expected to be polite and neat and categorically clear, but Mildred refuses to be any of those things. Suddenly, the film is no longer about justice for those impacted by sexual violence - it’s about redeeming characters who are at best terrible and at worst actively harmful.įrances McDormand’s Mildred seems like a promising character at the start of “Three Billboards.” She’s justice-driven, headstrong, abrasive and a product of the environment she lives in she becomes a walking embodiment of the moral gray area. “Three Billboards” isn’t about its central female character after all, but rather the white men who fail to help her. Roughly a third of the film is thoughtful, beautiful and powerful. The problem is that writer-director Martin McDonagh seems to fundamentally misunderstand how to successfully execute the first two missions, and thus fails to do either effectively. At first glance, “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” seems like a film reflective of our time: It provokes racial discourse and aims to present a compelling female lead, while presenting the politics and psychology of middle America.
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