I first saw Blow several years ago, and I loved it. Watching it again a couple of days ago my opinion changed dramatically. What made me change my mind? I think what made me like the film in the first place was its "groovy feel" and its realistic portraying of dope smuggling. The scene where George has to carry a suitcase containing fifty kilos of cocaine through customs is both good crafts work and very exciting to watch.
Watching the film today, however, I must say I didn't find the George Jung character very plausible. To me, it seems like the entire purpose of the film is to whitewash George Jung and make him, and the dope trade, into something it obviously isn't.
George Jung was a high level player in the organization known as the "Medellin cartel", run by drug lord Pablo Escobar. This was the organization which among other horrible acts, including countless murders, single-handedly declared war on the Colombian state and put Colombian society through several years of fear and arbitrary terror, making Meddelin and Bogota into two of the most dangerous cities in the world to live in. Yet, we are led to believe that George Jung wasn't like this. He never turns to violence. It's not George that's bad, it's everyone around else (except for his father and the murderous Pablo Escobar).
It's astonishing how many alterations are made to the real story in order to whitewash George.
When he skips bail the first time in the film it's because of his wife's illness when in reality he was motivated by pure egoism.
When he makes the arrangements for the first cocaine flight it's this evil Colombian guy who demands of the pilot information on his family, implicitly threatening to murder them if something should happen to the narcotics, while this was in fact George's own preferred method of securing his goods.
Not to mention the mild reaction he gets to Diego's treachery. He merely travels to Normans Cay in order to show his contempt for the guy. George never intends to hurt anyone. Wrong. The only reason why George called of his plans to kill Diego, or Carlos which was his actual name, was out of fear of an all out war with the Medellin cartel. To them, Carlos was much more important than George.
I know; it's only fiction, and by the use of voice-over it is made clear that this is in fact George's own subjective account of what went down. To me, though, that just isn't enough. I think the film would have profited of a more complex character. The whitewash of George is not essential to the plot.
My question then is why doesn't the director create a darker character, as would have been perfectly called for in this film? What are his motives? Why the need to whitewash? One is almost led to think that this was George Jung's own making. But it couldn't be, could it...?
Watching the film today, however, I must say I didn't find the George Jung character very plausible. To me, it seems like the entire purpose of the film is to whitewash George Jung and make him, and the dope trade, into something it obviously isn't.
George Jung was a high level player in the organization known as the "Medellin cartel", run by drug lord Pablo Escobar. This was the organization which among other horrible acts, including countless murders, single-handedly declared war on the Colombian state and put Colombian society through several years of fear and arbitrary terror, making Meddelin and Bogota into two of the most dangerous cities in the world to live in. Yet, we are led to believe that George Jung wasn't like this. He never turns to violence. It's not George that's bad, it's everyone around else (except for his father and the murderous Pablo Escobar).
It's astonishing how many alterations are made to the real story in order to whitewash George.
When he skips bail the first time in the film it's because of his wife's illness when in reality he was motivated by pure egoism.
When he makes the arrangements for the first cocaine flight it's this evil Colombian guy who demands of the pilot information on his family, implicitly threatening to murder them if something should happen to the narcotics, while this was in fact George's own preferred method of securing his goods.
Not to mention the mild reaction he gets to Diego's treachery. He merely travels to Normans Cay in order to show his contempt for the guy. George never intends to hurt anyone. Wrong. The only reason why George called of his plans to kill Diego, or Carlos which was his actual name, was out of fear of an all out war with the Medellin cartel. To them, Carlos was much more important than George.
I know; it's only fiction, and by the use of voice-over it is made clear that this is in fact George's own subjective account of what went down. To me, though, that just isn't enough. I think the film would have profited of a more complex character. The whitewash of George is not essential to the plot.
My question then is why doesn't the director create a darker character, as would have been perfectly called for in this film? What are his motives? Why the need to whitewash? One is almost led to think that this was George Jung's own making. But it couldn't be, could it...?