Let's face it: Organized crime syndicates have something captivating about them. No wonder The Godfather has enjoyed immense popularity, closely followed by The Godfather II, along with numerous other gangster movies and series from around the world. A new twist comes in form of Latin American dramatizations, particularly taking the stories of their own drug cartels as the basis. And why not? Whether it is the Medellin Cartel of Pablo Escobar, or the Sinaloa Cartel of El Chapo Guzmán, the names alone will ring a bell for many, and their stories are so lively as if they were written for a TV show.
Breaking Through the Saturation
As a result, streaming services, especially their Latin American versions, are loaded with numerous series about various drug lords. And as expected, some will be better, others ... well, let's say they are nice attempts. Out of all the one I've recently finished watching, and I would like to share here, is Narcos Mexico from 2018. What was originally supposed to be the fourth season of the original Narcos series, relating the story of Pablo Escobar, became instead a parallel show about the beginnings of the Guadalajara Cartel in Mexico in the 1980's, which led to the drug war that has not been concluded since.
Modernizing the Drug Trade
I can't help, but seeing the 80's in popular fiction always seems weirdly nostalgic to me. After all, it makes me recall my childhood, even though I was nowhere near Mexico at that time. But the show does a great job at painting a cozy yet simple setting, where cannabis was a demonized plant, offering great business opportunities, with equally great risks. That is where Felix Gallardo comes in, who tries to bring several families together in order to bundle their leverage. Himself he sees of course at the helm of this new organization, and instead of fighting the state, he wants to use it for his own advantage. You can see where this is going...
Rising to the Stratosphere before Taking a Dive
I don't need to get into the details of how not everyone is able to agree with each other, and how not only corruption leads to power, but power to corruption too. Plus, what goes up must come down. Hence, the show is filled with lots of dead bodies, revenge, and violence. But it also gives an insight into the various characters, all of which are based on the real-life (historical) figures in the world of drug bosses. And amazingly, their names are highly recognizable! What amazed me is all the background info my wife was giving me in her running commentary as we watched the show. She must have studied these folks! (Granted, she's not the only one...) And apparently, the creators of the show kept it pretty close to historical facts.
Who's Who among Mexican Narcos
Without trying to be comprehensive, some of the names I recognized before watching the series. Rafael Caro Quintero I knew I'd heard before, and El Cochiloco is also one I could not forget. El Mayo Zambada was only recently kidnapped by US forces, so his name had been all over the news as well. Other than that, the show put some names in perspective. Various members of the Arellano Felix family, forming the Tijuana Cartel, or Amado Carillo Fuentes, also called Señor de los Cielos for being a pilot. Even though the show doesn't progress further than the 90's, it makes the viewer feel they've become experts on how the Mexican drug story got started.
Don't Binge on This:
Being highly excited about Narcos Mexico, we decided to look into some other interpretations. To be fully honest, neither of them has captured my attention. The 2017 show El Chapo about the famous cartel leader Joaquín Guzmán from the Sinaloa Cartel turned out to be barely captivating, while, according to my wife, it ventured quite far from the facts, whether they were proven ones or even common speculation. With so much artistic liberty, one might as well watch something completely fictional. The other show I got kinda curious about is Señor de los Cielos (Lord of the Skies), dramatizing the life of Amado Carillo. But with close to 800 episodes, and being considered a "telenovela", I'm not sure if we'll take it up.
So instead, I may actually take a look at the first, original Narcos about the Colombian cocaine trade. It was created by the same folks as the follow-up show Narcos Mexico, so I hope it will be at least as interesting. For now, if this post raised your interest, here is a trailer of the show:
