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Flight Centre Specials
How coke came to America
Posted Wed, 18 Jul 2001
| Our Rating |  |
| Reviewer | Marisa Dean |
| Rated | 16L |
| Running Time | 120 mins |
| Starring | Johnny Depp, Penélope Cruz, Jordi Molla, Rachel Griffiths, Ray Liotta |
| Screenplay | Nick Cassavetes, David McKenna |
| Director | Ted Demme |
| Website | http://www.getsomeblow.com |
| Movie Details | The Internet Movie Database |
Based on Bruce Porter’s non-fiction book of the same name, “Blow” tells the true story of George Jung, the first American to partner with Colombian drug cartel leader Pablo Escobar to begin trafficking cocaine to the States in the 70s.
The movie spans five decades of Jung’s life (superbly portrayed by Johnny Depp), from his modest beginnings peddling pot on the beach in California to being responsible for the import of 85% of the cocaine that entered the US during the 70s and 80s.
The story unfolds in flashback, a narrative style, starting from Jung’s troubled childhood where his mother (Rachel Griffiths) teaches him that being rich was a noble pursuit and his father (Ray Liotta) works 14-hour days and still can’t make ends meet.
Rather than become just another blue-collar worker like his dad, Jung moves to California where he discovers sun, romance and the profitable pleasures of selling marijuana. At first, dealing drugs is just a way to maintain his free-wheeling, independent lifestyle, but soon he is having drugs smuggled to the East Coast by his stewardess-girlfriend (Franka Potente of "Run Lola Run").
During a prison stint for possession, Jung meets Diego Delgado (Jordi Molla), a talkative inmate who claims to be an insider in Colombia’s rising drug trade. After their release, Delgado introduces Jung to Pablo Escobar (Cliff Curtis), the billionaire godfather of international cocaine trafficking, who teams up with the young American to export tons of cocaine to US shores.
Soon enough Jung is literally rolling in money, but even as he ushers America into the great cocaine epidemic of the 80s, he realises that there is more to life than hedonistic pleasure. Ultimately, his relationships with his wife (Penelope Cruz), daughter and family crumble, along with the billion-dollar drug empire he has built.
While the first half of the movie is a colourful romp indicative of the era, David McKenna and Nick Cassavetes’s script falters a bit in the second half, weighed down by a need to closely follow Jung's life. However, Ted Demme's ("The Ref," "Beautiful Girls") direction is so good, and the actors so compelling, that this flaw is almost unnoticeable.
Johnny Depp’s eccentricity and somewhat vacant persona are tailor-made for the role. From his somber voice-overs to the portrayal of Jung’s spectacular rise and fall, he is so convincing that it's hard not to feel like you’re watching a documentary. And, love him or hate him, you’ll be blown away by what is certainly the performance of his career thus far.
