skip to main |
skip to sidebar
Film: My Father Pablo Escobar
Release date: 12th July 2010
Certificate: Exempt
Running time: 90 mins
Director: Nicolas Entel
Starring: Sebastian Marroquin
Genre: Documentary
Studio: Brightspark
Format: DVD
Country: Argentina/Colombia
“Juan Pablo Escobar has agreed to tell the story of his life with his father, Pablo Escobar, once described as the ‘World’s Greatest Outlaw’. It is also the story of the sons of Pablo Escobar’s most prominent victims. It is the story of a country torn apart by violence and revenge, of death and reconciliation, and of a son’s attempt to atone for the sins of the father.”
Juan Pablo (renamed Sebastian Marroquin) was only 16 years old when his father was killed. As the documentary explains, at the time of his death, Pablo Escobar was a fugitive fighting three wars within Colombia: one with the state, one with a rival drug cartel, and one with a rogue vigilante organisation employing guerrilla tactics as bloody as his own killing methods. Pablo Escobar was no ordinary criminal. At the height of his power, his Medellin drug cartel controlled a rumoured 80% of the world’s cocaine trade. In 1989, Forbes Magazine listed Escobar as the world’s seventh richest man, worth an estimated 25 billion dollars. Pablo Escobar thought nothing of assassinating anyone who crossed his path and he is blamed for destroying Avianca flight 203 in order to assassinate one politician.
Escobar’s son Sebastian was forced to flee Colombia after his father’s death and went into exile in Argentina. He attempted to build a new life for himself as a designer and architect, but he has been haunted by the final words he gave to a Colombian journalist who called him to inform him his father had been killed. In a rage, he swore to avenge his father’s death, and in doing so, his father’s violent legacy was passed onto him. Sebastian’s taped conversation, complete with threats against those who had killed his father, was made public and the stigma has never left Sebastian, but he is not like his father, and is determined to make amends.
My Father, Pablo Escobar follows Sebastian as he attempts to contact the victims of his father’s crimes. Sebastian hopes that by clarifying himself and apologising on behalf of his family, not only will his father’s victims find some peace, but also that the gesture can show that the cycle of violence can be broken, and that Colombia as a whole can choose a different path. But will the victims of Pablo Escobar’s violent assassinations accept his son Sebastian’s attempts at reconciliation, or is the anger and hurt too great a hurdle to overcome?
The documentary uses a variety of methods to drive the narrative, but mainly consists of interviews with Sebastian Marroquin, his mother Maria Isabel Santos Caballero, and the sons of Escobar’s most prominent political victims; Colombian minister for Justice Rodrigo Lara Bonilla and presidential candidate Luis Carlos Galan. These interviews are shot over some time, and they are cleverly interwoven with library footage from Colombian news channels, plus taped recordings of Escobar from phone taps and conversations with journalists. Using these methods, director Nicolas Entel is able to build a picture of the man behind the myth, as well as showing the viewer the very real impact of Escobar’s actions.
As well as the seemingly unfettered access to the grown up Sebastian, we are also shown an Escobar family home movie shot when Sebastian was still a boy. In it, we glimpse the other world in which the then Juan Pablo inhabited. We see all the trappings and unbelievable riches; the home movie itself is like no other containing its own score, a voice over, and an introduction shot from a helicopter in the style of the opening sequence of ‘80s TV soap opera Dallas.
Sebastian talks frankly about his father during intimate moments; we watch as he looks back, either at the home movie or later in the film where Sebastian listens to a recording of his father singing along to opera. In these moments, the documentary never allows the viewer to forget that Sebastian is also a victim. To him Pablo Escobar was not a drug-dealing murderer. The father he knew was a rich man who bought him everything a child could ever want - a father who cheated at monopoly, a father who despite all his flaws still loved his family and wanted to be loved by them in return.
There are many outstanding moments in the documentary but watching the sons of Galan and Lara Bonilla discussing their dead father’s legacy, or deciding whether to accept Sebastian’s apology on behalf of his family are completely immersive. When the victims sons agree to meet with Sebastian, there is no hiding the powerful emotions at play, and the camera lingers on the faces of these men who are clearly haunted by the past, and wrestling with their emotions. It would have been impossible to make this documentary without setting up or manipulating certain scenarios in order to get the footage required, but it is of great credit to everyone involved that these obvious manipulations in no way detract from what is an incredibly emotive piece of filmmaking.
Ultimately it is up to the viewer to decide whether or not the actions of Sebastian Marroquin could ever have the impact that he so clearly desires. But as a snapshot of the human side of drug trafficking and the misery heaped upon the families of the victims, from all sides of the equation, My Father, Pablo Escobar is a brilliant and hard-hitting documentary. SM
Film: My Father Pablo Escobar
Release date: 12th July 2010
Certificate: Exempt
Running time: 90 mins
Director: Nicolas Entel
Starring: Sebastian Marroquin
Genre: Documentary
Studio: Brightspark
Format: DVD
Country: Argentina/Colombia
Drugs, money, murder and the people left to pick up the pieces. These are the components that make up Nicolas Entel’s My Father Pablo Escobar, a world famous documentary about Colombia’s biggest ever drug dealer.
The documentary mainly focuses on Escobar’s son (renamed Sebastián Marroquín) and Widow Maria Victoria, as they explain their life in connection with Escobar. They paint a picture of a man who was madly ambitious, but also of a man who went further than drugs. Escobar wanted political control, and it’s explained how he tried to influence and infiltrate the political elite in Colombia.
Starting off in the Liberal Party, he was soon rejected when knowledge of his drug empire came to light. Not a man who takes rejection likely, Escobar used his power to launch a counter attack on those who spurned him. Unfortunately for him, and his family, it quickly grew out of control, and proved the eventual downfall of a man who was once ranked the 7th richest man in the world according to Forbes (1989)…
There is the feeling that the documentary was somewhat of a therapeutic exercise for Sebastián, helping him come to terms with his father’s legacy. In the second half of the documentary, he meets up with the sons of some of Escobar’s victims, explaining how he thinks that his father “up in heaven” does regret his life of violence, and the pain he caused the orphans and widows left behind.
Sebastián lives his life in Argentina as an architect, and there is a strong impression that this is his way of wiping the slate clean for him and moving on. Forced to keep a low profile because of his father, and hide the truth from his new friends in Buenos Aires, Sebastián finally begins to accept himself as an individual, and a man in control of his own life. The documentary allows him to state this, and is really just as much about Escobar as it is Sebastián.
The documentary works well because it allows Sebastián and Escobar’s widow centre stage. This is rightly so, as they, along with Escobar, are the real interest, and the documentary is chronicling their account of events. The camera films them sitting as they explain the various episodes that led to Escobar’s fall, and this is very nicely complimented by archive news footage of those same events. This helps in the impartiality of the documentary, and creates a more well rounded and balanced account of events. We see the internal pressures on Escobar, as revealed by the family, but we are also shown the response of the authorities and the public through the media footage.
The research carried out in preparation for the documentary took over eight years and really gives the documentary a professional touch. Because of the scale of Escobar’s former empire, and the multitude of opinions that surround him, it is important to get the facts right. The authoritative voice of the narrator aides this, although the narrator plays a small role and only acts where the story moves location or topic.
One recurring, but not surprising theme is money, and how drugs really do pay. Whilst it is nothing new in a film about drugs, My Father Pablo Escobar still manages to raise an eyebrow when it explains the scale and influence of the drug trade. Escobar was able to change the constitution to remove the threat of extradition, to kill and harass the political elite, and set himself up in a prison designed to his specifications (that reportedly was more like a 5-star hotel). However, this is balanced out when we meet the relatives of Escobar’s victims, and the people left to live their lives without their fathers. Sebastián writes to the sons of Escobar’s most famous victims, former Colombian Justice Minister Rodrigo Lara Bonilla and the former Colombian presidential candidate Luis Carlos Galán. When they arrange to meet up, it is an emotional moment, and proves that the drug trade is a path laden with destruction as much as gold.
Escobar’s is a story that needs to be told, and his relatives were right to wait for Nicolas Entel to do the job. He shows the confliction in Sebastián between how he should feel about his father, and the guilt he feels about Escobar’s crimes.
Well researched and gripping, My Father Pablo Escobar paints an extraordinarily intimate picture of one of the biggest and most dangerous drug dealers of all time.
Film: My Father Pablo Escobar
Release date: 12th July 2010
Certificate: Exempt
Running time: 90 mins
Director: Nicolas Entel
Starring: Sebastian Marroquin
Genre: Documentary
Studio: Brightspark
Format: DVD
Country: Argentina/Colombia
To some he was a businessman. To others a respected member of the community who helped build homes for those without. He was a husband and a father. He was also a very dangerous man who heralded Colombia being responsible for 80% of the world’s Cocaine. He was Pablo Escobar.
Argentinean filmmaker Nicolas Entel convinces the son of notorious Colombian drug baron Pablo Escobar, Juan Sebastian Marroquin, to tell the story of his father for the very first time. Marroquin chronicles how Escobar went from a well-liked businessman to the country’s most hated man. Meanwhile, Marroquin attempts to contact the sons of two high profile politicians who were assassinated for getting in his dad’s way…
Escobar was killed by the federal government in 1993. Since that time his son, daughter and wife have not returned to their native country. From the moment he first appears on screen; Marroquin is obviously a haunted man. Not because he ever did anything wrong you understand, but because he can’t help but realise that the nation he left behind fifteen years ago hates him simply for the family he was born into.
The story is told in two strands. We see the past as told to us by talking heads, and the present as Marroquin tries to make amends to those who suffered the most. The talking heads, however, aren’t your usual historians and ex-newscasters but the (surviving) players themselves. The incredible archive footage paints the rest of the picture with haunting detail, as corpses, destroyed buildings and at least one live shooting (the genuine on camera death of Luis Carlos Galan must be one of the most shocking sights you’ll ever see) show us what a terrifying time the 1980s and early-90s were in South America.
Perhaps the most fascinating aspect is that to some Escobar is hailed as a Robin Hood-esque figure. The idea that a self-made billionaire (once the seventh richest man on the planet according to Forbes magazine) would share his wealth with the community he lives in with no strings attached is the stuff of legend. In truth, he was taking way more than he was giving.
The man had everything he could ever want - a cheesy home movie shows how he would buy elephants and lions at a million a pop, just because he could. His widow Maria even laments the moment that they realised there was nothing left for them to buy. At this stage, Escobar decided to get into politics – and this is when the trouble started. Ousted from the new Liberal party because of his line (pun intended) of work, Escobar began killing off the politicians who wanted to out him as the ruthless racketeer he was.
The point of view now shifts from Marroquin to the sons of Luis Galan and Rodrigo Lara. Although their fathers’ lives aren’t detailed nearly as much as their antagonist, their murders are clearly depicted as a loss for the people of Colombia.
The impact that this story has on these men is obvious. Besides losing their fathers; Escobar’s political power allowed him to change Colombia’s constitution, so that the government couldn’t extradite criminals. This explains why the country is still a hotbed for the drug trade to this day. Knowing that their fathers were in one way or another involved in this has clearly left on indelible mark on them.
As with any documentary or true story, it is interesting to know what has been left out. This being the story as told from the man’s son, it is understandable that he doesn’t present the information on his dad’s affair with TV anchorwoman, Virginia Vallejo. It actually isn’t relevant to this particular telling, as Marroquin probably didn’t know about it at the time. In fact, within the context of the telling of Escobar story, his life and character is so interesting that nobody else really gets much of a chance to shine. It is fortunate then that Entel spends as much time as he does in the present day, as the regret of his and his enemies’ sons adds more heft and sheer emotion that elevates the film above your average TV documentary.
A fascinating story that will hook you from the opening moments and keep hold right up until the finale. Told with real passion by the people who care the most. It really has to be seen to be believed. SEAN
Film: My Father Pablo Escobar
Release date: 12th July 2010
Certificate: Exempt
Running time: 90 mins
Director: Nicolas Entel
Starring: Sebastian Marroquin
Genre: Documentary
Studio: Brightspark
Format: DVD
Country: Argentina/Colombia
Nicolas Entel, more used to corporate productions and music videos for the likes of Wyclef Jean and KT Tunstall, as well as his first feature length documentary about a globe-trotting tango orchestra from Buenos Aires (Orquesta Tipica), had his work cut out for to his latest offering, My Father Pablo Escobar. Also known as Sins Of My Father, the young director documents the difficult journey of Sebastian Marroquin who seeks atonement for his father who was at one time the world’s Most Wanted man.
The film covers a three year period, starting in 2007, when Sebastian, having settled in Buenos Aires, is to afraid to return to his homeland, and will go no further than the Colombia/Ecuador border. By 2009, Sebastian returns to Bogota to meet and seek forgiveness from the sons of the politicians Escobar had assassinated in his lust for power.
Most of the documentary is comprised of footage from national news archives, as well as videos from the Escobar family’s private collection, recorded telephone calls and radio broadcasts. The film does not shy away from showing the atrocities for which Escobar is responsible, but Marroquin is also eager to portray his father as a family man and patriot. Regardless of Escobar’s attributes and deficiencies, it is an incredible account…
The grim opening footage where Escobar’s coffin is repeatedly opened and closed, to reveal his motionless, bloated face indicates the scepticism of a crowd who cannot believe he is dead. It is, after all, the corpse of a man who was once in control of 80% of the world’s cocaine, stupendously rich, and able to amend Colombia’s constitution at will. This is contrasted with a man who loved nothing more than to spoil his children, who would use a nature encyclopaedia as a catalogue to create his own zoo of exotic animals. The family’s home videos are truly something to behold; animals, airplanes, jet skis - every extravagance imaginable. However, Sebastian remembers his father had such a strong competitive streak that he would cheat his children at Monopoly.
Ruling the underworld was not enough for Escobar, and when he starting buying his way into politics, the problems started and then ended in civil war. Escobar was charitable; he built homes for 5000 people living in the municipal dump. He then used his popularity to garner support for Rogerigo Lara Bonilla and Luis Carlos Galan, founders of the New Liberal Party. Bonilla and Galan were displeased to be linked with a drug baron, regardless of his ‘Robin Hood’ reputation, and expelled him from the party. This rejection made the men targets for a wrathful Escobar, who instead bought his way into congress. As soon as Bonilla was made Minister of Justice, he ordered a raid of one of Escobar’s processing plants, recovering 13 tons of cocaine with a street value of $1.2 billion. In 1984, Escobar had Bonilla assassinated and escaped to Panama. What follows is the story of a father and son on the run, one from his deeds, the other from the future that was written for him.
One of the strengths of Entel’s film is that he records showing archive material to the sons of Bonilla and Galan, twenty years later the pain and disbelief is still pasted across their faces. The audacity and monomania of Escobar is apparent from the contradictory and manipulative speech he made when he turned himself in to the authorities on his own terms. The same goes for Sebastian’s initial email in February 2008, we see five suited and obviously powerful men around a laptop looking lost, but also moved at his words of peace and reconciliation.
Sebastian himself cuts a desperate figure; he has succeeded in forging a more moral path than his father, and is very different from the distraught teenager who declared revenge on his father’s murderer. He realises, “I’ve lost the right to get angry,” and admits “I cannot understand my own father’s character.”
It is a documentary about men, fathers and sons, and to some extent, machismo. Sebastian is paying for his father’s foolhardy behaviour, and there are very few women present in this documentary, apart from his mother. She seems a rather powerless figure, authority passes from father to son, and it was due to Sebastian’s quick thinking that the family escaped Colombia after his father broke out of prison. One is reminded of the arrogance of Mesrine, Richet’s film cleverly portrays its protagonist as someone who claims to be a political idealist, but is more interested in unfettered access to the finer things in life. Arguably this is the case with Escobar, but Entel does not go so far as to join the dots - he is, after all, dealing with a very loyal subject in Sebastian.
The film does end on a moral note, when Sebastian eventually returned to Colombia he discovered “everyone wants to be Pablo Escobar” - a glamorous lifestyle funded by cocaine is something he seeks to discourage by showing the human price.
The blood and body count of My Father Pablo Escobar sends out a powerful message: it shows the extent of terrorism in a developing country, where drugs dictate the political agenda and appear to the public as the only source of prosperity. This potentially explosive subject material is crafted into a cry for reconciliation and hope by a promising young documentary-maker. SR
