Originally titled El Infierno (aka Hell), Luis Estrada’s black comedy El Narco is a brutally twisted, yet darkly humorous perspective on the political, social and economic impacts of drug trafficking in Mexico.
Released on the bicentennial of Mexican Independence Day 2010, the controversial film has found commercial and critical success in its home country despite attempts to stop its release. It follows the experiences of a naïve, happy go lucky fellow called Benjamin Garcia (Benny) who is deported from the U.S back to his fictional home of San Miguel Arcangel, twenty years after he left.
Benny comes back to a situation that has grown increasingly worse; the town is slowly being torn apart by an ongoing family feud, fuelled by drug cartel leaders/ brothers Don Pancho and Don Jose. Benny’s brother Pedro dubbed ‘El Diablo’, has met his maker due to his involvement in the Don Pancho clan, leaving Widow Lupita Solice and son to fend for themselves.
After trying to make an honest living working at his Godfather’s repair shop, Benny inevitably succumbs to the seedy world of drug trafficking. Being a part of Don Pancho’s gang ‘Kings of the North’, opens the door to wealth, power and women but as Benny soon finds out, has its own price to pay…
The film is full of hilarious moments which culminate through shocking situations in a, ‘this is so wrong to laugh at, yet l can’t help it’ kind of way. The film’s characters are endearing and portrayed really well by actors like Damian Alcazar (Benny) and Joaquin Cosio (Cochiloco).
The blasé nature of each character’s actions serves the purpose of getting a point across, but at times can make one’s stomach churn. Torture scenes are quite gory and there is a lot of imagery involving lopped body parts and human carcasses dumped in the streets.
‘El Narco’ moves at quite a fast pace and there is never a dull moment, Estrada has done well to raise social issues such as the glorification of drug lords by the town’s youth and the desperation and poverty of those who fall in with the ‘mafiosos’. He also highlights the weaknesses of the drug lords and their reliance on their hapless minions to carry out their dirty work. Political motivations however, are the strongest factor to this movie, showing Don Pancho using his money and power to buy his way to the position of mayor in the end.
Estrada has created an entertaining albeit bleak portrait of the state Mexico is in, let’s hope this gutsy, all out gangsta story not only engages its audience but greases the wheels of change as well.
Review Score: 8.5 out of 10
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