White
blonde women are omens of doom in screenwriter Guillermo Arriaga's
arduous directorial debut. Arriaga (screenwriter of "The Three Burials
of Melquiades Estrada" and "21 Grams") resorts to his favored
time-flipping narrative format in order to delay revelations about New
Mexican-born Sylvia (Charlize Theron), now living in Portland, Oregon.
There she indulges in meaningless sex to try to block out a past that
will inevitably catch up with her. Parallel to Sylvia's story is a
narrative concerning a white family of six back in New Mexico, overseen
by adulterous matriarch Gina (Kim Basinger). Gina is conducting a
hot-and-heavy tryst with a Mexican immigrant. Gina's daughter Mariana
(well played by Jennifer Lawrence) becomes aware of her mother's secret
and turns to tragic action to express her disapproval. At it’s the
film's heart is a story of Mexican immigrants whose romantic encounters
with Caucasian women spell disaster. Dramatically flawed by overwrought
plotting and one especially unconvincing character of dubious
motivation, "The Burning Plain" flirts with a racial thesis that it is
unequipped to support.
