When Nick, a blonde Canadian surfer, meets María (Claudia Traisac), the girl soon to become the love of his (young) life, a story with heavy family connotation begins to unfold. For María’s uncle is no less than Pablo Escobar (Benicio del Toro), Colombian drug kingpin of all times. Out of the blue, Nick had happened to land in one of Colombia’s many gorgeous beaches with his brother Dylan (Brady Corbet) and his wife. Such a beautiful location near Medellín comes accross as sheer paradise for them. So in no time they decide to run a humble surf bussiness there. Sun, surf, and love, all together in one.
But, when uncle Pablo helps out Nick with the trouble he and his brother are having with some local thugs, things begin to get muddy. For Escobar always wants to have something in return for his favours. That is to say that if he has killed a few hoodlums for Nick (even when Nick never asked him to do so), then eventually the surfer will have to kill a few men for him too. The thing is that Nick isn’t a killer. He’s just a gullible guy who has now lost the paradise he thought he’d found.
Narrated from Nick’s point of view, Andrea Di Stefano’s Escobar: Paradise Lost is first and foremost a pointless feature. You’d think the protagonist would be Pablo Escobar and that the narrative would cover several aspects of his private and public life. That there would be an exploration of his many facets, some insights into the contradictions of his persona, or perhaps even some little known facts about him. But none of that is found here. And for two main reasons: 1) the protagonist is Nick, the naive blonde surfer, 2) instead of a portrayal of Escobar you get a one dimensional caricature.
Why is Nick the leading man? I guess the idea is that in this way you’d get a more intimate, a behind the scenes account of the man in question. A drama with a personal take, if you will. Nick would be a character for viewers to identify with in his discovery of the mess he’s got into, meaning the ruthless world of Colombian drug dealers. Nick would be the nice guy viewers would care for as the story grows darker and darker. Not a very remarkable idea to begin with, considering it would put Escobar in second place, but had it been well executed it might have partly paid off.
But just like Escobar, Nick is such an underwritten character that it’s impossible to take him seriously — let alone care for him. For that matter, all characters are mere cardboard figures. They literally have no personal traits whatsoever, they only perform the actions told on the script. And they do so in a very mechanic manner. So where is the pathos supposed to be found?
Moreover, from the second half until the end, Escobar: Paradise Lost intends to become a suspense-filled story with some violent outbursts, but it also fails because of its very predictable and formulaic development. And as regards the many social, political and ideological angles a potential story of this kind has, you’d better forget all about them for they are never truly explored. That would be asking too much from a film that doesn’t even meet the basic expectations.
Production notes
Escobar, Paradise Lost (France/ Spain/Belgium, 2014) Written and directed by Andrea Di Stefano. With Benicio del Toro, Josh Hutcherson, Claudia Traisac. Cinematography: Luis Sansans. Editing: Maryline Monthieux, David Brenner. Music: Max Richter. Produced by Benicio del Toro, Josh Hutcherson, Moritz Borman, Dimitri Rassam. Running time: 120 minutes.
