Sicario (2015)
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Movie on how they want us to think they actually "fight" against cartels..?
It'll be interesting to see how the movie develops.
It reminded me about this article published on SOTT
U.S. government and top Mexican drug cartel exposed as partners
http://www.sott.net/article/271989-US-government-and-top-Mexican-drug-cartel-exposed-as-partners
Living in Mexico it's awful to see how cartels practically rule over the country, yesterday the headlines of the main newspapers in Mexico were talking about how this new governor from a state has direct bonds with the Guerreros Unidos Cartel.
It'll be interesting to see how the movie develops.
It reminded me about this article published on SOTT
U.S. government and top Mexican drug cartel exposed as partners
http://www.sott.net/article/271989-US-government-and-top-Mexican-drug-cartel-exposed-as-partners
Living in Mexico it's awful to see how cartels practically rule over the country, yesterday the headlines of the main newspapers in Mexico were talking about how this new governor from a state has direct bonds with the Guerreros Unidos Cartel.
I saw Sicario when it first came out in theatre's and it does promote they are fighting against cartels, but not in the usual good guys going after the bad guys type of scenario. It's worth watching and I thought it was one of the best movies of 2015. Although it is very tense and there is no happy ending. So in a sense it was realistic because you see psychopathic machinations in play and how it can ruin people and leave destruction in their wake.
SPOILER ALERT!
The movie plays out exactly like the article about the Sinaloa Cartel being aided by the CIA to take out other cartels, except the CIA works with the Colombian's to take out the major Mexican cartel in power. Emily Blunts character is essentially used and manipulated by the CIA in order to legalize their maneuvers and and she goes through a series of traumas as she's exposed to their manipulations and lies and starts to realize it but can't get out of the situation. They never implicitly mention CIA involvement in drug trafficking, but you do see a darker side than is shown in most other movies involving them.
SPOILER ALERT!
The movie plays out exactly like the article about the Sinaloa Cartel being aided by the CIA to take out other cartels, except the CIA works with the Colombian's to take out the major Mexican cartel in power. Emily Blunts character is essentially used and manipulated by the CIA in order to legalize their maneuvers and and she goes through a series of traumas as she's exposed to their manipulations and lies and starts to realize it but can't get out of the situation. They never implicitly mention CIA involvement in drug trafficking, but you do see a darker side than is shown in most other movies involving them.
Corvus
Dagobah Resident
I watched it some time ago but get bored and did not watch it to the end but recently did manage to watch the whole movie.
SPOILER
There is one scene when this CIA guy with SF says to this agent that there was a time when there was one cartel that dominated drug trade which they controlled and that it is basically what they want again, so it was eliminating the other cartels they did not control. And that drug lord before he was killed with his wife and kids by this sicario(hitman) said that he was doing the same thing as the people he works for. And in the end the main character is manipulated because they say to her they needed someone from domestic agency to conduct operation on US soil under law (but also because of her idealism, that is naivete in their eyes, and the main reason for choosing her), at least that is how it goes in movie, and is forced with gun to sign a paper that everything the team did was legal. If she did not sicario would have killed her to look like suicide so they win either way, but what you see is that they broke her by signing it, that is her idealism, and sicario(Del Toro) said "you are not a wolf and this is the land of wolves now" meaning in other words land of psychopaths, he being sociopath probably. Ending gives a bitter taste and notion of hopelessness, but it gives you the real picture of power and politics reality as it is, dark, ugly, merciless.
EDIT: spoiler mentioned in prior post while I was typing this post.
MAJOR SPOILER ALERT.
I saw this movie and indeed I think it has some interesting lessons like some of you guys have pointed out. Firstly, I think it's interesting that the main character is a woman because it's clear that she has a conscience and she does not accept the status quo. However when she finds out what is happening and how the CIA is manipulating them to achieve its own objectives, she really feels helpless. The comment about her being in the land of wolves yet she was not one was spot on! In the end, she has no choice but to accept this.
What I found to be really sad was the crooked cop whose Son was waiting for him every morning when he woke up, and all he wanted was to play soccer with his dad. I felt for the cop who was stuck as a low level courier for the cartel just doing his part and not asking questions. You get the feeling that he was doing this for his son, yet the job left him with little time to interact with the boy, and low energy too as he often had to work at night. In the end, he got sacrificed for the larger endgame of the CIA. After he is killed, there is a clip where his son is shown waiting for him in the morning by his bedside.... The sadness of it all is very much like life on the big blue marble when psychopaths rule. Definitely a good watch if you have the stomach for all the violence. I got a very strong sense of the futility of it all (life).
I saw this movie and indeed I think it has some interesting lessons like some of you guys have pointed out. Firstly, I think it's interesting that the main character is a woman because it's clear that she has a conscience and she does not accept the status quo. However when she finds out what is happening and how the CIA is manipulating them to achieve its own objectives, she really feels helpless. The comment about her being in the land of wolves yet she was not one was spot on! In the end, she has no choice but to accept this.
What I found to be really sad was the crooked cop whose Son was waiting for him every morning when he woke up, and all he wanted was to play soccer with his dad. I felt for the cop who was stuck as a low level courier for the cartel just doing his part and not asking questions. You get the feeling that he was doing this for his son, yet the job left him with little time to interact with the boy, and low energy too as he often had to work at night. In the end, he got sacrificed for the larger endgame of the CIA. After he is killed, there is a clip where his son is shown waiting for him in the morning by his bedside.... The sadness of it all is very much like life on the big blue marble when psychopaths rule. Definitely a good watch if you have the stomach for all the violence. I got a very strong sense of the futility of it all (life).
Padme90 said:
'Guerreros Unidos', by the way, are the gang who are said to be responsible for the disappearence (i.e. execution) of the 43 students that were kidnapped during a demonstration against a local city mayor a year or two ago.
Also on the recent news in Mexico: The newly elected 32 year old, female, left-wing mayor of the small town of Temixco was executed by a group of hitmen that broke into her house just a few hours after she got into office. She didn't have bodyguards because she was of the opinion that police resources were meant for the people and not elected officials.
luke wilson
The Living Force
This movie is nothing short of gripping.
In the end, yeah it displays clearly that the situation is that of the land of wolves. I'm not sure if this is how it is on the ground, but if it is, then I thought the main female character was dangerously naive. There is zero chance to defeat those cartels within the confines of the law and in my eyes the CIA guys were doing the right thing. They realised they couldn't stop the drug trade due to the overwhelming demand within the US so instead they moved to control it by helping one cartel essentially eliminate the competition.
It's one of those no happy ending type of movies that may act to manipulate our view of reality but the news constantly coming out of Mexico doesn't do much in the way of providing a counter balance. Another interesting scene in the movie is how life there continues as normal around all these cartel warfare. How people have essentially normalised it all... Accepted it as part of their reality.
In the end, yeah it displays clearly that the situation is that of the land of wolves. I'm not sure if this is how it is on the ground, but if it is, then I thought the main female character was dangerously naive. There is zero chance to defeat those cartels within the confines of the law and in my eyes the CIA guys were doing the right thing. They realised they couldn't stop the drug trade due to the overwhelming demand within the US so instead they moved to control it by helping one cartel essentially eliminate the competition.
It's one of those no happy ending type of movies that may act to manipulate our view of reality but the news constantly coming out of Mexico doesn't do much in the way of providing a counter balance. Another interesting scene in the movie is how life there continues as normal around all these cartel warfare. How people have essentially normalised it all... Accepted it as part of their reality.
luke wilson said:
Agree, the fact that the widespread corruption and the obscenities happening regularly have become accepted by the population is truly frightening and shows how deeply embedded in the people's psyche this aspect has become.
What I also didn't like about the movie was how the CIA is being portrayed as the good guys having to do the dirty work to stop or at least limit drug trafficking into the country. Despite all the evidence of the contrary in real life, the movie didn't even try to imply the possibility of corrupt elements within the agency that work with the cartels and support them.
luke wilson said:
We were precisely talking about this yesterday at dinner with some friends, about how even music is being developed around the life of Sicarios and how little children mainly in the north of the country want to be this Sicarios, cause they think they're rich and full of power... so it is worrying how "normalized" it could be down here, my brother also brought something on the table, about how this could be other way to program people, so I do believe this, I really can't bare the idea of how people invest money to do this tv shows about cartels, for me it's non sense really.. i'll prepare myself to watch the movie this weekend :)
Eboard10 said:
I got the impression that Alejandro, Benecio Del Toro's character, was part of the Colombian cartel. Throughout most of the movie he is always referred to as the lawyer, but near the end of the movie I remember a scene where either him or Josh Brolin's character admits to Emily Blunt that the whole thing was about bringing some sort of balance of power back into the Colombian's hand. That somehow they would be more easily controlled by the CIA.
Corvus
Dagobah Resident
Depending on a person if some things are repeated enough times it becomes "normal" after initial shocks, or it could be coping mechanism to enable a person to get along with daily routine and put under rug those shocks, but what you say could also be and glorification of it which is just another way of normalization. Many kids see them also as role models because it opens them a door out of everyday struggle for survival and better existence because of being poor, but at what cost, and if there is any to be taken among some of them.