Films often depict the trade and use of drugs in Latin America as an extremely violent situation. Countries like Columbia or Mexico are usually where the drugs come from while the United States are the destination. More times than not, Latin America plays the role of an antagonist while the United States plays the protagonist. A film about Latin America, when pertaining to the United States, can fall into one of three categories: fully Latin American, a joint effort between Latin American countries and the United States, or a film by the United States. Gerado Naranjo’s Miss Bala (2011), is a Mexican film that is set in Tijuana, Mexico, and follows a young Mexican pageant girl as she becomes mixed up in the Mexican drug cartels. Maria Full of Grace (2004) is joint film between Colombia and the United States that gives Joshua Marston’s interpretation of a young Colombian girl who finds freedom from her job de-thorning roses by carrying drugs from Colombia to the United States. Viewpoints from a strictly American perspective can be found in Steven Soderbergh’s Traffic (2001). Each of these films vary in the areas they depict of the drug trade process, but nonetheless, they all portray drugs between Latin America and the United States. It could be assumed that, due to a sense of patriotism, each film would highlight its own country of origin as the lesser of the two evils while the joint film might take a more neutral approach. One might expect Traffic to portray the United States as a superior country who is against a Mexican drug cartel who is built up to seem more horrendous than they really are. Equally, Miss Bala might be expected to show Mexico in a better light while creating an alienating haze around the United States while Ma...
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...les were portrayed, how they related to the cartel, and how the problems they faced were overcome.
Works Cited
Keefe, Patrick Radden. "Cocaine Incorporated." The New York Times. The New York Times, 16 June 2012. Web. 05 May 2014.
Maria Full of Grace. Dir. Joshua Marston. Perf. Catalina Sandino Moreno, Guilied Lopez and Orlando Tobón. Fine Line Features, 2001. DVD.
Miss Bala. Dir. Gerardo Naranjo. By Mauricio Katz. Perf. Stephanie Sigman, Irene Azuela and Jose Yenque. 20th Century Fox, 2011. DVD.
United States. Mexico’s Drug Trafficking Organizations: Source and Scope of the Violence. Cong. Bill. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Print.
Traffic. Dir. Steven Soderbergh. Prod. Laura Bickford, Edward Zwick, and Marshall Herskovitz. Perf. Don Cheadle, Benicio Del Toro, Michael Douglas, Luis Guzmán, Dennis Quaid, Catherine Zeta-Jones. Bedford Falls Productions, 2000. Digital.
As previously mention the films main focus is on the United States economic relationship and impact on Latinos and Latin countries. Primarily we see how Latinos are treated here in the U.S. and the hardships the face along with how the U.S. affected other countries like Guatemala, or more specifically how influential United Fruit Company was, and how its presence affected the nation. One major example of this was the coup that the US backed to overthrow the democratically elected government of Guatemala after they confronted the United Fruit Company. We also see how the U.S. military affected these nations, one well known example being the
The article begins with Kaplan’s trek northward from Mexico City and describes many of the sights he sees along the way. He describes dirt roads lined with trash, and cinder-block houses with corrugated roofs. Then he goes into great detail about the economic divisions between social classes and the booming America-bound drug industry that causes the division.
Google Books, https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=bDEDBQAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PA196&dq=mexican+drug+cartels&ots=8goVXKwGf_&sig=UkmUGWh_lIrl9krS6hWNRCtzjoQ#v=onepage&q=mexican%20drug%20cartels&f=false "Drug Trade and Trafficking." Teen Health and Wellness, Rosen Publishing Group, Inc. June 2015. Accessed March 21, 2018. http://teenhealthandwellness.com/article/134/drug-trade-and-trafficking.
In the Documentary “Mexico’s Drug Cartel War”, it displays a systematic approach of drugs and violence. The Drug War has been going on since the United States had a devastating impact on Mexico after the recession where it nearly doubled its interest payments. Mexico could not afford the interest payments but did have many agricultural imports. This created the trade between the United States and the land owned by the two million farmers. It spread the slums to Tijuana and Ciudad Juarez to work in maquiladoras (assembly plants just across the border) (Jacobin, 2015). This paper will focus on explaining how drugs are related to violence in Mexico, how drug enforcement policies influence the relationship between drugs and violence, and how battle for control in their own country.
The film, American Drug War: The Last White Hope was directed by Kevin Booth. He lost four close people who were addicted to alcohol, nicotine and prescription pain killers. Through this film he portrayed how the war on drugs in the United States is a way for those in power and on wall street to profit meanwhile incarcerating the poor people who sell to get food on the table or are addicted to drugs. President Nixon created the Drug Enforcement Agency and the scheduling of drugs eventually declaring a war on drugs. Since his presidency the American government has been in a state of war on the fight against illegal drug use. There has been no advancements in this war, if anything the drugs are winning. It was stated in the film that there are
Led by the Arellano Felix brothers, the nephews of Miguel, and later their own nephew, Luis Fernando Sanchez Arellano, the Tijuana Cartel suffered through many deaths and arrests, which made the group smaller, yet still influential. Another cartel, the... ... middle of paper ... ... they continue to send troops to regain control of towns and prevent violence and crime in an attempt to make drugs a less prominent factor in their society.
Drug trafficking has been a massive concern between the borders of Mexico and the U.S. “since mid 1970s” (Wyler, 1). Drug trafficking is “knowingly being in possession, manufacturing, selling, purchasing, or delivering an illegal, controlled substance” (LaMance, 1). A dynamic relationship exists amongst Columbia, Mexico, and the U.S. the informal drug trafficking economy. This growing informal drug economy leads to many individuals creating a substantial living through this undercover market. These individual drug cartels monopolizing the trafficking market are a growing problem for the U.S economy and need to be located and controlled. If this trafficking continues, the U.S. informal economy will crush the growth of legal industries. The trafficking and abuse of drugs in the U.S. affects nearly all aspects of consumer life. Drug trafficking remains a growing issue and concern to the U.S. government. The U.S. border control must find a way to work with Mexico to overpower the individuals who contribute to the drug trafficking business. This market must be seized and these individuals must be stopped.
Alexander focuses on the War on Drugs to illustrate the drug war affects millions in today’s society. Although many will argue that the purpose of the War on Drugs is to protect society, Alexander utilizes facts and statistics to prove that this notion is false. First, the majority of those arrested are not charged with a serious offense. Alexander states, “In 2005, for example, four out of five drug arrests were for possession, and only one out of five was for sales”. This statistic illustrates that the drug war does help the nation get rid of big-time dealers. The only thing that the War on Drugs has achieved is the significant increase in the number of people incarcerated in the United States. From 1980 to 2000, the number of incarcerated individuals has increased from 300,000 to more than 2 million. Furthermore, Alexander points to the Fourth Amendment to illustrate how all
Martinez’s story is not so much one that pieces together the events of the crash, nor the lives of the three youths, but it is an immigrant’s tale, discovered through the crossings of the various Chavez family members and profiles of Cheranos in Mexico.
“Mexicans smugglers have long trafficked homegrown heroin and marijuana to the U.S. But in the 1980’s, mexico also became the primary route for colombian cocaine bound for the U.S” (Bates). According to Bates, when Guadalajara’s leader was arrested in 1989, the groups remaining capos, including a young Guzman divided up its trafficking routes, creating the Sinaloa, Juarez, and Tijuana Cartels.
Maria Full of Grace, written and directed by Joshua Marston, is a film portraying the Colombian drug trade. Marston being born in the U.S, includes some international socially fragile aspects within this film. He shows the globalization of the flower and drug trade, within Colombia. Incidentally showing the globalization of the film industry as well. As this film reaches towards a specific audience who are sentimental to the negative activities in the global south. Marston includes an unrealistic portrayal about immigrants in America. Plus, he depicts the U.S. as a safe haven for all those who struggle. Making Maria Full of Grace a perfect film to analyze, pointing out how Marston unsuccessfully does his job, and instead glorifies the U.S. Focusing on all the positive aspects this country offers, when we might be the source of the problem.
Potter, George Ann. “Is the War on Drugs Bringing "Dignity" to Bolivia?”TheWashington Report on the Hemisphere. Vol. 19.11. July 30, 1999.
By stepping back and looking at the entire story, one can see the bigger forces that are driving the conflicts of the movie. The overlying theme in The Road to El Dorado is the pursuit of power. The first example of this comes from the search for gold. Hernando Cortes, Miguel, and Tulio are all pursuing gold. This affects their decisions. The second example is the struggle for leadership. This is exemplified by Tzekel-Kan and Chief Tannabok. They are competing for who is the real leader of El Dorado, and this influences the decisions they make. The final example is the desire to overthrow others. This is shown by Hernando Cortes and Tzekel-Kan. Cortes is trying to overtake El Dorado to gain all the gold. Tzekel-Kan is trying to gain control of El Dorado by surpassing Chief Tannabok with the gods favor. These three examples show how Miguel and Tulio are influenced not only by their personal struggles but the greater picture in which they live
The film explores this in various aspects, the most prominent being Juan Vargas. Juan came from humble background and due to his simple beginnings got the position of power because the party felt like he’d be least likely to cause trouble. Nonetheless after being in the role for a short amount of time, Juan started to exploit the townspeople becoming the worst mayor to ever enter San Pedro. The film shows corruption and dishonesty in other ways, with the examples of the American who tried to swindle Juan for money after “fixing” his car. Juan’s wife, Gloria and her affair with the American man, who she ended up falling in love with. Even Lopez, the secretary for the president is corrupt and tried to shoot his rival for the positon of governor, which said rival happened to be the president’s nephew. Also, the fact that the position of governor went to the president’s nephew in a classic display of nepotism, is even a form of the corrupt actions of the
In comparison to Plata Quemada, and a precise decade later depiction of queer movements is outsized. With an even vaster depiction of homosexuality if you were to add another decade, like the very recently released Pride and Love is Strange. Going back to the elaborate scene of sophistication by Piñeyro, the heist comprises of a discredited tango vocalist, an immoral administration official and a alternation of felonious types, but the film's authentic emphasis is on the trio of younger affiliates: Cuervo, the cracked, drug-addicted breakout driver, and Angel and Nene, two gay lovers notorious for illicit rings as the twins. The burglary, where numerous cops were killed, is really a disguise to the preamble, which is Piñeyro's main concern, developing the vivid psychodrama after the thieves escape to Uruguay, spending utmost of their time anticipating for the foreseeable ruthless conclusion. The burglary part of the story eventually withers into the background.