REVIEW: ‘Narcos’: Netflix’s newest drug

By Riane Lenzner-White

By Riane Lenzner-White
Ebert fellow

If you’re looking for “Netflix and chill,” move right along. But if you want a series that will command your attention, quickens your pulse and destroy any hope of a productive day, season one of “Narcos” might be your newest entertainment addiction.

Although the series chronicles the true story of Pablo Escobar and the violence he brought to Colombia, anyone who knows the most infamous drug lord of all time would agree that his legend is stranger than fiction. This idea is eloquently captured from the opening moments of the very first episode, with the words, “Magical realism is defined as what happens when a highly detailed, realistic setting is invaded by something too strange to believe… There is a reason magical realism was born in Colombia.”

Directed by José Padilha and created by Chris Brancato, “Narcos” documents the 1980’s rise of Pablo Escobar and his Medellín cartel from relative obscurity to owners of a $60 million a day drug trafficking operation. Opposite them are the Colombian and American law enforcement efforts, wrought with tragedy, inter-personal conflict, and corruption.

Do not attempt to watch “Narcos” passively. The multi-faceted plot is so intricate that even a thirty-second daydream could leave you confused. Although transitions from scene to scene are quick, the thick and convoluted plot is further complicated by the fact that all the dialogue is in Spanish with English subtitles. The show’s creators might consider forty minute episodes instead of an hour, a luxury made possible by the fact that it is on Netflix instead of television. But we have a long time before we can see what’s in store for season two. The earliest projected release date is August 2016, and the show’s creators have not yet officially announced when it will debut.

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The casting, acting and cinematography all beautifully complement each other. The relaxed tempos of the vintage Latin music peppered throughout the episodes are so at odds with the show’s gratuitous violence, it adds an element of fantasy to a time period that was anything but a utopia. As for Wagner Moura who plays Pablo Escobar, he’s far more convincing than Vincent Chase was in the disastrous “Medellín” during season four of “Entourage.” Through his body language and delivery, Moura manages to accurately capture the shuddering paradox between the real Escobar’s ruthless nature and his tenderness towards his family, especially his wife, Tata. When his young son expresses the desire to become a “businessman” like his father, the sadness in Moura’s eyes shows that while he thought his legacy was good enough for his country, he wanted better for his son. When he is humiliatingly denounced in front of Colombian Congress and his empire begins to disintegrate, the manic gesticulations of a paranoid man who only ever wanted control are absolutely haunting.

Gangsters have long been romanticized in film and television. Though we see that to some degree in Narcos, it serves as supplemental to the show’s plot, rather than central to the series. It’s done in a way that lets the viewer decide how to feel. The display of Escobar’s vulnerable side almost makes one sympathize with him. It would have been so easy for the creators to cast Escobar as entirely soulless, but that would have been disingenuous. It may be that my inability as a viewer to take a firm stance about Moura’s character was intentional because it was reflective of Colombia’s attitude toward Escobar in the early days when he was the country’s Robin Hood. Escobar built churches and schools with the same bloodstained money that eventually launched Colombia into civil war.

The supporting actors were equally impressive. Boyd Holbrook plays American DEA agent Steve Murphy. His casting as Escobar’s ‘good’ counterpart illustrates that ambition is universal, regardless of the motivation behind it. Like Escobar, Murphy’s character has a fierce work ethic, and desperately wants respect. He too wants to be a family man and a good husband, but often compromises that vision in order to pursue Escobar, and prove himself to the other agents. Throughout the first season, Holbrook’s character develops from straight-laced cop to a man who will resort to anything to stop Escobar. This change is largely due to his rogue partner, Javier Peña, played by the charmingly intense actor Pedro Pascal.

The American DEA agents were not given much of a background story. In the entire season, we never learn what motivated the goody-two-shoes Murphy to uproot his wife from America, and move to Colombia to track the merciless King of Cocaine. Or why playboy Javier Peña, who seems to care so much about the welfare of the women he sleeps with, fails to connect with any of them on a real emotional level. In the 1980’s, the Medellín cartel was responsible for eighty percent of cocaine imports into the United States, but season one does little to address the implications of this. Hopefully, season two gives us more about how Escobar’s drug cartel impacted American society.

Pablo Escobar ran Colombia with what he liked to call “plato o plomo’ diplomacy, either bribing officials with silver or executing them with lead bullets. A variation on this approach applies to Netflix Original Series; they are either wildly successful or they quickly disappear. To say season one of “Narcos” was promising would be an understatement. But we’ll have to wait for season two to find out if this series will end in silver or in lead.

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