Thoughts on Sicario

This was a very violent film. There were tons of guns and shooting and killing. It was entertaining, but I kept asking myself was it based on true events? Especially the scene where del Toro puts the gun to the police woman's chin and forces her to sign the paper. It was a tense scene which I enjoyed. I just didn't know how believable it was.

The beginning starts with a bang. I'll try not to go into spoilers, but the gruesome discovery at a suburban house in Arizona was appalling. So many dead bodies buried in the walls. A scene like this is believable. I've read about some really gruesome things that the cartel does in Mexico. It's too bad it is spreading North to the southwestern US.

The setup concerns the policewoman. She's some kind of SWAT member who is chosen for an assignment to take down leaders of a cartel. Josh Brolin plays the contact and turns out to be CIA. The lead character goes through a lot of moral quandaries which I found a bit too much. Wouldn't she think it was her duty? Perhaps she was already overwhelmed with the violence of the drug wars. In this film she was not. And it proves her undoing.

The story reaches it's climax when Del Toro confronts a police man who is a trafficker, then catches up to a middle man in the cartel hierarchy, and finally on to the cartel head. It turns out Del Toro's character is from Columbia and may, or may not have ties to cartels there. Whatever his past he is on the side of law enforcement in the US. The end of the film brings his legality as a law enforcement person into question. I don't think anyone thinks that Del Toro's character is anything but a mercenary out for justice for what was done to his family. Yet the murder scene of the cartel head and his family is no less gruesome. It is vigilante justice. And Brolin is nowhere to be found.

The film was going along very good until the bar scene. I thought it wasn't that great. She somehow hooks up with a guy who is corrupt and works for the cartel. I thought the female character would have been stronger. And the way she falls for the guy is a little unbelievable. Then Del Toro comes to save her. This is when I started to think of the film more of an action film with Del Toro at the center rather then a hard look at the reality of cartel land. As it plays out Brolin was just using her anyway and her character becomes very weak indeed. Yet, what can she do? What can anyone do in the drug wars? It seems so hopeless. The film does emphasize that aspect. What can the government of the US or Mexico do to stop the drug trade, the murders, the utter brutality of the cartels and the law enforcement authorities who enforce the laws every day? It's a tough question. Sicario is a film which pushes the issue. What will be done is less certain.

There were some great shots of landscapes in this film. I really liked the shots of Juarez. Good film.