Review of Cocaine Cowboys (2006) by Rik U — 13 Oct 2007
Excellent documentary on the cocaine trade that hit miami in the 80s, turning the place first into a glamourous spot for decadence, then into a slaughterhouse with the arrival of colombian gangs and then into a booming metropolis whose money is more or less all fueled from cocaine.
once the story introduces "the madrina", the film adopts a very morbid tune, depicting the gangwars, in which the substance's effect is secondary in the war for territorial domination. The movie's narration is in the line of a sociological analysis that lays bare the sociopsychology but keeps its speculations grounded in earth.
in a way, cocaine cowboys reveals how brutal and unsophisticated the world of finance is, despite all the laundering (both of lifestyles and actual money) it took to glamourize it in the 80s. everyone who is impressed by the scarface, carlito's way and other gangster stories would do well to watch this documentary to move past the "cool"ness of it all.
This review of Cocaine Cowboys (2006) was written by Rik U on 13 Oct 2007.
Cocaine Cowboys has generally received positive reviews.
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