Review of Sicario (2015) by Lee Ann W — 23 Jan 2016

For me Sicario was the most unsettling film of the year. I found this much more disturbing and difficult than The Revenant, or even the documentary The Look of Silence.

Although technically a fictional story, the film is laced with a gritty, docudrama aesthetic, albeit a beautifully photographed one, and is anchored in real world concerns that plague the various citizens and law enforcement agencies represented.

I greatly admire this film. It's a work of art by a very talented group of artisans, it is well told and very intense. That being said, it's not a film I'll return to very often precisely because of how well it does its job. But I can certainly see why it has cracked so many critics year end top ten lists.

Don't get me wrong, this is a great movie about a pressing topic that should be seen if you have any interest in films about the cartel, about the drug trade or about Americas various arms of law. All I'm saying is it's unpleasant to watch and to think about. It's very dark and ends quite cynically and as such I doubt I'll return to it often.