Pablo Escobar, The Drug Lord

They say that when you least expect interesting things, they come knocking on your door. And that was precisely what happened to me last summer when I was visiting my sister-in-law and her Colombian family. In the middle of a barbecue I was surprised to see that one of her friends was wearing a very peculiar T-shirt by Pablo Escobar. Of course, this didn't go unnoticed among the guests and without wanting to wait for it I was in the middle of a great debate about this character. The opinions were so diverse that I began to investigate a little more about this character that held a whole country in check.

With this in mind, in addition to reading the press of the time, watching television reports and interviews, I began to realize the spread of versions of series, movies, etc. about Escobar. Then came the question - which of these would be the nearest to the truth? After seeing two appaling versions and on the verge of throwing in the towel I found this version: 'Pablo Escobar, the patron of evil'. This series was came out in 2012 and went on for 113 episodes. The direction was shared by Carlos Moreno y Laura Mora Ortega and the peculiar thing about the series is that among the writers there are direct relatives of the victims of Pablo Escobar and his hitmen (Camilo Cano, Juana Uribe, Alonso Salazar, Juan Camilo Ferrand).

The series is part of the genre of action-thriller, and describes the life of the Colombian Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria from his childhood and how the use of indiscriminate violence made him the richest, most fearsome and bloodthirsty drug dealer at the end of the 20th century. Even destabilizing the Colombian government to the point of being the most wanted criminal in the world.

Among the strengths that would stand out in the series are:

• The quality of the acting. I would especially emphasize the performance of Andres Parra, who plays Pablo Escobar. The impact of his performance is that he studied the character so well that he would spend several hours a day trying to imitate Pablo Escobar's diction, rhythm and tone and he achieved it. In fact the only surviving hitman of Escobar's (Popeye), said that sometimes just listening to the series he could see his 'patron'. At the same time another actor who knew how to capture the personality of the person he played was Cristian Tappán. In fact this actor underwent a radical change to give life to Escobar's cousin and right-hand man.

• Undoubtedly a strong point of the series is that the cast of actors, being Colombians did not have to force the accent, the humor of this culture or the Colombian idiosyncrasy. This is the great difference that I have found as compared to other similar series. In this sense, it helped me a lot to have a Colombian relative to understand or translate certain idioms. However, without this help it would not have been difficult to understand the same due to the context.

• Regarding the locations, the exteriors were all made in the same cities where the real events took place (Medellín, Bogota, Cali, Antioquia among many). Although it sounds contradictory, something else that kept me watching the series -despite the fact that the exposure to the violence that occurred the 1980s and 1990s in Colombia may be too overwhelming- was that as the events unfolded the series was mixing images, recordings and actual interviews of what was being told. This situation, in my opinion, makes the viewer even more aware of what has happened in this country and how drug trafficking and corruption marked not only their present but their future.

Among the weak points that I noticed:

• On the one hand, the astonishingly naive role that the police logistics displays. The Escobar character in most of the series mocks to their captors almost derisively. On the other hand, I believe that what is being exposed through this 'ingenuity' in the series is the high level of corruption, or the fear that surrounded the security and judicial forces, and even journalists.

This series also led me to the search for the book on which the facts were based: 'The parable of Pablo', written by Alonso Salazar. One of the main differences between the book and the series is that it offers an overview of the whole picture and analyzes the historical, political, social, cultural, economic and even psychological background on which the protagonist figure of the drug trafficker stands out. His relatives, neighbors, workers, lawyers and collaborators were interviewed for years by Salazar. Also their victims and their enemies. And those who fought it from the State and with the law.

The series, despite being very respectful with the facts, I think that opened a very dangerous debate with respect to this unpleasant character. Because, on the one hand, in more than 80% of the series it is remarked that money could do everything, could buy justice, consciences and everything that would have been necessary to achieve an end. At the same time, it was believed that after capturing and putting Escobar out of sight, a great problem would be buried and it was not so, violence as well as drug trafficking continued to grow.