http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/27/movies/27cowb.html


The review and I had the same notions about how the people were interviewed in the Doc. The author states how the stories are told in a casual way. I compared them to be told in "a matter of fact" way. Either way, we both seem to have found the stories shocking. We both also talked about how much the Cocaine business affected the economy in positive ways yet it was all built on the awful things the drug trade has done. At the end of the review, the author takes a tuff stance on the film calling it a "tabloid headline". Although I agree that the film sort of glamorized the situation, I think the quality of information and stories need to be shared. People need to know what happen and face the reality of the world we live in whether it glamorizes it or not.

Cocaine Cowboys

Cocaine Cowboys is a crime documentary about the cocaine wars in Miami. The Cocaine wars took place in the early 70s to mid-80s and mainly were surrounding the Columbian drug cartels operation. The operation was headed by "La Madrina" Griselda Blanco also known as the God Mother.
Studying criminal justice for the last four years I had pervious knowledge of Griselda Blanco and the Medellin Cartel's dealings in Miami. With that being said all the stories and first-hand accounts in Cocaine Cowboys brings forward an amazing realization that these things actually happened. Many of the stories told are sort of "matter of fact" as if these were normal things that happened in major cities in America. The stories range from public executions, a truck full of automatic weapons being fired in public and even a man executed in front of his family at his son's birthday party. These brazen acts of violence have really spoken to what people are capable of in pursuit of money. Although I don't believe the desire of money is inherently evil, I do believe people are willing to go to any length to obtain it. This documentary really exposed the real world drug trade for the violence, glamor, and greed which attracts the nefarious types that populate it. One of the main points I found interesting is how Miami is supposed to be this paradise in the sun, yet the amazing city we see today was built on the back of drug money. Many drug laundering projects became major buildings and establishments in Miami and many people died for that money to end up where it did. Historically many great cities and states have been built on the back of war, however, this was a war on American soil. A war in which there is no foreseeable end. The United States and the war on drugs is a long and convoluted story. One in which there is no possible happy ending, just a continuance of wasteful spending, violence, and oppression. With the war on drugs in mind, Cocaine Cowboys is a microcosm of not only the United Sates want for drugs but also our need for the silent economic train that is the drug trade. In conclusion, I found Cocaine Cowboys to be an amazing insight film that all criminal Justice majors should watch.