Blow

After the release of films like Traffic and Requiem for a Dream, audiences might be getting tired of "drug movies". It would be a shame if it cost Blow the attention it deserves. Directed with a humorous, human edge by Ted Demme, it's a true story and a well-made film with moving performances by the leads, especially Johnny Depp.

Depp plays George Jung, the man who introduced the Colombian drug cartel to the United States during the seventies. You would expect to really hate the guy whose actions destroyed so many lives, but Jung's life was about dumb luck. Early on, it is extremely good luck.

After learning from his mother (shrilly played by Rachael Griffiths) that being poor is the worst possible thing that can happen to a person, Jung vows to make money any way he has to. Selling pot beachside in Southern California was a good start. A born businessman, Jung realizes that the big bucks are in big scale dealing, and hatches a plan.

Fortunately, Jung's stewardess girlfriend, Barbara (Franka Potente), just happens to be a close friend of Manhattan Beach's primary marijuana dealer and owner of America's first hair salon for men. Paul Reubens seems to delight in playing the very shrewd, extremely fey Derek Foreal. After sizing Jung up as a "living Ken doll", Foreal agrees to be his supplier, in an arrangement that would prove to make him a rich man.

The real hook of the film is seeing how easy it was for these unremarkable men to start the flow of illegal drugs into the country. As Jung tells it, basically anyone with a desire to make money and no aversion to "crossing an imaginary line" could have done what he did. It was like buying Yahoo stock for $13 a share.

Unfortunately (as with the Yahoo analogy) what goes up must come down. After serving the inevitable jail time, Jung graduates from marijuana to cocaine, and finds himself involved with less amiable associates. As Pablo Escobar's American contact, Jung's fortunes increase, as do the stakes. He meets and marries the hard-edged Mirtha, played by a skeletal Penelope Cruz, who later gives birth to his daughter.

At this point, Blow introduces George Jung's bad luck. Is he an addict spinning out of control? Yes. Does he sober up after being betrayed by his partner and leave the drug trade? Yes. Despite his best efforts, does he get drawn back into the business, for the one last score no less, thus losing everything and everyone he holds dear? Of course he does! Otherwise, this would not be a cautionary tale.

After an engaging start, Blow becomes dark and depressing, just like the life of Jung himself. Watching the end credits, you feel sorry for him. He's an average guy who made bad choices, right? Walking out of the theater, however, sympathy vanishes. This is the man who made the world of films like Traffic and Requiem for a Dream reality. As bad as his life is now, he got off easy compared to others. That may be the one point that Blow never makes at the end.