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The torture, murder, corruption
-- sadly, it's all very, very real
By ELIAS CASTILLO
for TheColumnists.com
EVERY ONCE in a great while,
Hollywood produces a film that realistically depicts a subject
in all its grime, sweat and blood.
Such a film is "Traffic," the almost documentary-like
depiction of narcotic trafficking out of Mexico. It's chief character
is played by Benicio del Toro, who portrays a frustrated honest
Mexican drug agent, trying to keep clean while awash in the offal
of Mexico's corruption.
Films like "Paths of Glory," that portrayed the illogicality
and cruelty of the French high command in World War I, "12
O'Clock High," that depicted the agonizingly slow mental
deterioration of a World War II bomber squadron commander, and
"Das Boot," so realistic that you could almost smell
the sweat and fear of being inside a Nazi submarine, were films
that pulled no punches in the portrayal of their subjects.
Likewise, "Traffic" covers the smarmy crookedness of
top Mexican officials, the free use of torture, cold-blooded
murder and the lure of the multi-billion dollar illicit industry
that is Mexico's drug trade.
Back when I was a reporter, I went on assignment into that country
to take a close-up look at that narcotics problem. Watching "Traffic"
brought back all the memories of the characters and sites involved.
From the run down apartment where del Toro's character lives
above a noisy, polluted Tijuana street to the almost casual handling
and use of powerful firearms, every moment of that film could
not have been more accurate.
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In one "Traffic" scene, the military commander of anti-drug troops, casually encourages del Toro to do all he can to smash a drug conspiracy.
The bearing of that officer reminded me of the warden of the prison of Mazatlan, a grim site that was more akin to a black hole of Calcutta, where convicts slept on pieces of cardboard spread on the floor or were piled four high in flimsy bunk beds.
A Mexican colleague of mine, who helped me on that story, used a box of 9-mm ammunition to bribe that official into allowing us to get inside the prison with a photographer. I still remember that prison official almost carefully and lovingly opening the box then caressing the bullets with his eyes before ordering one of the guards to let us have free run through the foul smelling, dark prison.
"Traffic" offers a spellbinding and accurate portrayal of the evils, enormity
and, up to now, futility of trying to defeat the cold-blooded and sadistic pistoleros that make up the narcotic syndicates. Mexico's newly elected President Vicente Fox, who smashed the 71 years of corrupt rule by the Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI), is considered the best bet to break the power of Mexico's drug cartels.
It may not be pleasant to watch, but you'll never get a better inside look into the unbridled violence of Mexico's billion dollar crime groups that are freely pumping heroin, cocaine and other drugs into this country.
© 2001 by Elias Castillo.
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is a prize-winning reporter who has worked for the Associated Press, the San Jose Mercury News and has written for many other publications. He now runs his own public relations firm and writes op-ed columns for the San Francisco Chronicle. A specialist in covering U.S.-Mexican affairs, he co-authored the "Mexican Drug Syndicates in California" chapter of the new book "Organized Crime and Democratic Governability, Mexico and the U.S.-Mexico Borderlands." |
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You can comment on this column or contact Elias Castillo with an email to: talkback@thecolumnists.com
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