Review of The Counselor (2013) by Jackie S — 22 Jan 2017

So, "suspense or thrills" are the criteria of a good movie? Who says this is a suspense thriller? Perhaps it is a movie of ideas, of themes, as is a work of good literature. The movie is, in one aspect, a critique of neoliberal economics, personified by one of the greatest transnational corporations, the drug cartel.

We see here a Tragedy, where a man, who is generally good, falls victim to a flaw in his personality or makes a mistake of great consequence,either by a failure of virtue or by lack of reasoning: the counselor.

The consequences of his error are great. He has entered a world that he knows little about, having a somewhat constricted view of reality. As the Jefe tells him, "You think there are things these men are not capable of.

You are wrong." These men are the man we see in No Country for Old Men, Chigurh. These men are the men for whom short-term wealth and power, ending in their murder, is worth the chance, compared to the "mundane" life the rest of us lead.

This is the world in which everything has a price but not much is of value. Note the large amounts of garbage, and the scene with the body in the dump, being buried along with other trash. And we see a person -- Malkina -- who is a strong woman, devious, intelligent, stoical, and evil, caring for her own gain over that of anyone else: perhaps a great capitalist.

The movie exposes much that is wrong or corrupt in our world: desire for fame, wealth, possessions, with damage to others or to the environment merely "collateral damage." The cast play their parts well.

The plot might be a little complicated for some, but, this is an intelligent movie that requires the viewer to be thinking, to watching for symbols, personifications, ideas being played out that might be unacceptable to some who do not see what is happening in the world.

People die daily for the drug trade. People work the sex trade, often in the control of a person, usually male, who "owns" them. This is an effective film, unless all you want is to be entertained.