I think this drama can't reach the height of Breaking Bad in terms of artistry, lens language and shooting techniques. Four stars is more reasonable.
But the powerful appeal of this subject, the narrative based on real stories and the psychedelic Colombian style, are very plus points. Especially the record player with the opening song playing music, the white powder, the pair of dollar bills, the beautiful Colombian lady, the red lips of the prostitute, the running animals, the drug lords on the motorcycles, the Colombian films Houses and street night scenes, Tuyo's melody makes people almost melt in the breeze of the street.
Add one point to the theme, music, and exoticism. Five points are praised. It is an American drama that is definitely worth watching.
The dark history of a country behind this play.
Colombia, a small country that is insignificant in the world, basically has no sense of existence. The last time I saw the news from Colombia was because of Ronaldo’s performance in the World Cup. What's more, Colombia is not only a weak country, its economy is weak, and its people's livelihood is difficult. It used to be a colony of Spain. After the independence of Spain, according to the Monroe doctrine of the United States, it has basically become the dominance of the Americans. The whole country is still dominated by agriculture due to the coffee plantation industry, with a weak industrial foundation, unsound industrial performance, and low technological content. Therefore, it is undoubtedly a cheap raw material base and industrial dumping market in the United States.
If such a country accidentally discovers huge reserves of oil that can be easily exploited, it can embark on the path of the tyrants of the Gulf countries. It can even become a force that cannot be ignored in the world through the Petroleum Exporting Countries Agreement. On this basis, the development of tourism resources, the acquisition of various companies and assets abroad, and the establishment of a complete industrial system by spending money are a way to become a prosperous and powerful country.
If this country was initially colonized by an English-speaking country, it will still retain English as its official language after getting rid of colonial rule. Although the country is politically corrupt and its people are poor, it has a huge population advantage and a superior geographical location. On the premise of retaining its agricultural advantages, it can still gradually develop its own light industry and become an emerging developing country. On this basis, if the entire nation upholds education, is smart and eager to learn, it can also vigorously develop high-tech industries with software development as its core, and enhance the nation's international competitiveness. This is the truth of India, and it is now one of the most powerful emerging developing countries.
If such a country, after getting rid of colonization, has a powerful centralized central government rule and military power, and the central government is determined to let the country develop and grow. In the critical historical period, the correct historical decision was made, coupled with the rich and honest human resources and the diligent and hard-working national character, it is possible to introduce foreign capital, invest in the establishment of factories, give preferential measures, undertake the industrial transfer of developed countries, and seize Opportunity to establish a completed industrial embodiment and realize industrialization. Even on this basis, we can vigorously develop technology and education, strengthen infrastructure construction, increase independent research and development, develop national brands, and export industrial products to the world. This is China's path, and it is now the second largest economy that can trade with the United States.
It is a pity that Colombia does not have incomparable oil resources, nor does it have a large amount of human resources, and it also has a lazy personality that is common in Latin America, and it does not value education. As a poor developing country, he does not have a centralized and powerful government, but the way of Western representative parliamentary democracy. More importantly, his location is not only superior, it is also terrible. Surrounded by the same poor Latin American countries, not close to developed countries, it is naturally impossible to undertake industrial transfers and investment in factories from developed countries. The only developed country close to it is the world hegemony lighthouse country. In the concept of lighthouse country, Colombia is its own control territory. Of course, he will not help him become stronger, and even other developed countries cannot interfere in their own territory. Get this kind of map, basically hell starts.
Colombia not only had a nightmare start, he also opened Pandora's box of drugs. In developed countries like the Lighthouse Country, drug production is a felony, but drug use is not a crime. Facing such a market with huge demand for and dependence on drugs, countries like Colombia with poor people, chaotic social order, and loose management are simply hotbeds of drug production (analogous to the Golden Triangle), so drug production inevitably moved to Latin American countries. .
Where there is a market, there is demand, not to mention the transaction of drugs. Marx said that for 100% profit, it dares to trample all human laws; with 300% profit, it dares to commit any crime, even the danger of hanging its head. The drug trade is more than three times the profit, it can make people easily grab tens of millions of dollars in profits in a short time. Therefore, drug production inevitably took root in Latin America, and was transported into the United States through an unknown but absolutely existing hidden channel, realizing the dumping of developing countries against developed countries.
The drug lords sit on hundreds of millions of net worth. In addition to enjoying luxury, in order to better protect themselves, the drug lords have established private military armaments, recruited the local poor as their guards, thugs, and killing machines, and bought airplanes. Tank munitions, their weaponry is even higher than that of the army. Not only that, through bribery, threats, intimidation, and assassinations, government officials, military generals, and police officers of most countries are allowed to serve themselves. They are invincible and almost invincible in this country. They are even the richest businessmen on the rich list, bringing a large amount of foreign exchange and trade surplus to the country.
In general, the government and drug lords maintain a basic peace, because cracking down on the government is not conducive to drug lords doing business, and cracking down on drug lords is not conducive to the government's management, especially the chaos caused is not conducive to their own political achievements. Moreover, drug lords are also actively investing in society, schools, and hospitals to help the poor. For the people in a region, the benefits outweigh the disadvantages.
Later came a group of Americans called DEA (drug enforcement agence). Because of the suspicion that the drug lords are connected with the Communist Party, and that the drug lords cause a large outflow of dollars every year and too many Americans take drugs causing serious social problems, the President of the United States has decided to crack down on the drug lords. What does this have to do with Colombia? But now that the American father has spoken, Colombia must consider that the few presidents who happened to be connected are hard-liners against the drug lord, and they all want to kill a big drug lord named Escobar.
But is it so easy to kill? With the help of American father, he went through countless bloody battles, compromises, negotiations, and battles, and finally settled Escobar, and then looked around, a drug lord fell, thousands of new drug lords And the drug cartel stood up again. Even because of the power vacuum and struggle experience left by Escobar, they can develop and strengthen themselves faster, and they can last longer with more experience in the government's struggle. Where's American Dad? The United States does not regard helping Latin American countries to punish drug dealers as its long-term task. Once the drug dealer is more obedient and far away from the Communist Party, the United States has other major tasks such as the war on terrorism. The rest of the drug lords will still grow rapidly, and all the mess left behind will be borne by the country itself.
I don't want to say that the drug trade is correct and reasonable, nor do I want to say that the anti-narcotics police who are fighting on the front line are not worthy of respect. But whether you admit it or not, drug production and trade in Latin American countries cannot be banned under the current circumstances. Wherever there is a vacuum, there will be thousands of young people who want to change their destiny, get ahead, and take this path. If the government really wants to slightly control the domestic production and trade of drugs (not completely eradicate it), there are several ways. One is to vigorously develop the economy, improve the people's living standards and increase job opportunities. If you can live a good life without drug trafficking, at least there will not be so many people taking risks. But combined with the reasons mentioned above, this can not be done for a period of time. Colombia's second is to increase the control of the government and the army, centralize power and promote clean government, and crack down on drug lords from the top down. However, it is basically impossible for a Western democratic country like this to increase government control and centralization. The third is to eliminate the drug market. If Americans do not take drugs, there will naturally be no large-scale drug production and trade. Looking at the current situation in the United States, this is basically impossible. In fact, there are more and more drug users in the United States, not fewer and fewer.
The only way to truly eradicate drugs is to eliminate this market. Behind the huge profits of this industry, no matter how strict the law, how harsh the law enforcement agencies are, or how harsh the state machinery is, it is useless. (For example, China is already the most severe country in the world against drugs, and there is still an endless drug trade.) Some people’s lives are doomed to fail, they are destined to be a low-level loser, and drug trafficking is given back. There is a glimmer of light in his life. Even if he pays the price of his life, he is willing to do his best for this glimmer of dawn, at least his life has been burned.
Therefore, cracking down on drug lords must be cracked down, but the Colombian government can do a bit more strategically.
(The following are just some irresponsible assumptions)
First, agree to the US strike request, but in return, request the US to provide Colombia with necessary military, technical, educational, and medical assistance.
Then, he said that Colombia would deal with the drug lords on its own, and declined all military and intelligence assistance from the United States.
Then, on the surface, they worked hard to crack down on the drug lords, but actually negotiated with the drug lords, requiring the drug lords to pay high income taxes to ensure their own safety, and encouraging the drug lords to legally invest their funds in the real economy, schools, hospitals and other public utilities. , Promised to invest a certain amount of money to give the drug lords a gold medal from death (such as too big too fall), completely guaranteeing their safety.
Finally, on the surface, the drug lords acted to crack down, paying a batch of drugs from time to time. But in fact, it is ensured that there are no casualties on both sides, and the safety of the lives and property of the local people is guaranteed. The government can provide necessary assistance to ensure that domestic drug lords dominate in Latin America, but they cannot buy drugs domestically.
The most important thing is that the government has accumulated power to develop productive forces, and when the country has basically modernized and achieved a well-off level in an all-round way, it can consider killing the drug lord. At this time, the drug lord is estimated to be 7 or 80, so it doesn't make much sense to do it or not. At this time, you can concentrate on developing the economy, maintaining public order, and building a harmonious society without drug lords.
This way of development, secretly supporting drug lords, using the money in the hands of drug lords as the primitive accumulation of capital, and uniting all forces that can be combined to promote economic development, can probably be called national drug lords. In a sense, the drug lords are only agents of the country, and the money in the hands of the drug lords is to raise funds for the country, which is equivalent to buying national debt.
The creation of complex and controversial characters, not just a blank photo on the front page, is a core factor in the success of an American drama.
Of course, in this show, the character that I dislike the most is Detective Murphy. I am not opposed to cruel attacks on drug lords, after all, that is his duty, and I am not opposed to him obtaining intelligence through threats, intimidation, bribery, and wiretapping. I hate that kind of supremacy of American supremacy. They know that no one dares to kill us because they are great Americans, but they shoot at the entire bar in order to kill one person. What did these ordinary people do wrong? Guess if there happens to be an American, and his actions are discovered, what might he face? Probably it was a first-degree murder and prison in the United States. All the people killed in Colombia were Colombians, but they were all in peace. Is human life not human life? While flaunting justice, while shooting the poor, not to mention this justice itself is a manifestation of the national interests of the United States. Probably the most unbearable thing is this method of dividing people into different classes. If this kind of person appeared in China earlier, it would probably be for the so-called Revenge Boxer, and the Eight-Power Allied Forces invaded China and burned and killed looting American soldiers.
Except for him, other characters are very memorable and have a strong dramatic tension. The female reporter with heavy makeup and a coquettish bitch who had an adultery with a drug lord always has a capitalized desire on her face. Tata, the wife of the drug lord, feels especially sensational every time she slaps others in the face, a powerful Zheng Gong Fan. The last Dr. President came to power, portraying the complexity of politics, the cowardice of politicians, and the entanglement of their hearts. Colonel Carrillo is a cruel man, especially if he said some golden phrases, which makes people sad, this country is more difficult to be a policeman than a drug dealer in magic realism. There is also the Mexican drug dealer who is full of flesh and cruelty. Every time I see him appear, people are frightened and afraid of who he will do next moment.
The most impressive thing is Escobar. In fact, his appearance and dress are very ordinary, but he has successfully shaped the image of the boss from his debut to the upper position. As a boss who can call the wind and rain, he does have a personality charm on his body, and he also carries Reckless and heroic qualities such as relief of the poor, loyalty to the family, loyalty, courage and fearlessness, but also ruthless, murderous, and suspicious. His strategic vision, ingenuity, and boldness along the way can help him quickly expand his territory and expand his drug empire, but it is a pity that these arena wisdom cannot help him fight the government and the United States. The reality is that if he can be better educated, have a broader vision, and be able to deal with the relationship between the government and the United States in a more sleek way, especially if he kills less unrelated people, he may be able to find a way to make his empire stand. The longer way. According to very unreliable hearsay, many Latin American drug lords have a very close relationship with the CIA. In fact, the CIA's cash machine. But the indiscriminate killing of innocent people like Escobar, such as contacting the Communist Party, rushing into the government to massacre, bombing civilian planes, etc., is definitely not acceptable.
In any case, this drama has created a lot of controversial, charming and curiosity characters. In this sense, the characters in the play, especially the negative characters, are more successful.
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