Allow me to generalise: After years of covering film festivals, I am conditioned to expect movies that are grim, evocative and with stories that move at a languid pace.
But director Andrea Di Stefano’s directorial debut Escobar: Paradise Lost, starring Josh Hutcherson of Hunger Games fame and Academy winner Benicio Del Toro in a film about the notorious late Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar, does away with all that and gives us a crackling suspense drama that’s oddly commercial but still gratifying.
The movie took Di Stefano five years to make and his efforts are there to see.
“People have been wanting to make a film about Escobar forever. So at a certain point I thought there was something there that wasn’t just working,” said Stefano on the red carpet prior to his gala screening on Saturday at the Dubai International Film Festival.
“If it weren’t for the courage of stars like Benicio Del Toro and Josh Hutcherson and their trust ... Much of the film is because of the courage they showed and because they jumped on board,” he added.
The film chronicles the last years of Escobar’s reign in the 1990s after he surrenders himself to the authorities. But before he’s incarcerated, Escobar calls on his minions to run errands like stashing away his wealth in obscure locations across Colombia.
In his trusted inner circle is the naive Canadian Nick who’s given the task of carting away boxes of precious stones to a cave. He’s a misfit and the story is told from the young surfer-turned-reluctant criminal’s perspective.
The story oscillates between a star-crossed love story and a cliffhanger laced with deceit and betrayal. Nick falls in love with a gorgeous Colombian girl, Maria (Claudia Traisac), and all’s well until he realises that Maria is the niece of dreaded drug cartel head Escobar. Her devotion to her uncle is absolute and Nick and the viewers almost buy into that because Del Toro does a splendid job of playing the Robin Hood-like friendly uncle.
Escobar’s warm interactions with his family, Nick and the adoring public makes you forget what he does for a living. But the transition from a gentle giant to a ruthless criminal is riveting. The way he superficially includes Nick into his family and then discards him like a pawn after he manipulates him into almost killing a young boy is played out well.
“What’s interesting is the equation about good and bad in the film. The homicidal, terrible actions that Escobar does is more than enough to make you realise if I am glorifying him in a good or bad way,” said Stefano.
While the director holds good on his promise to not glorify Escobar, we wish we had seen more of the enigmatic criminal. This is not a biopic of Escobar because the crux of this film is the romance between two twenty-somethings. While we are always ready for a good romance, Del Toro’s pitch-perfect performance makes you pine for a film that’s more of a love affair with Escobar.
Did you know?
Director Andrea Di Stefano had an unlikely guest watching his Middle Eastern premiere of Escobar: Paradise Lost. Tennis star Caroline Wozniacki, who’s currently playing at the ITPL in Dubai, swapped her racquet for a designer gown on Saturday evening.
“I am looking forward to watching this film and judging it for myself ... Normally, I love comedies where I don’t have to think much and stars like Cameron Diaz and Jennifer Aniston,” said Wozniacki on the red carpet.
