Escobar: Paradise Lost

8/30/2022

Benicio del Toro is a better Pablo Escobar than Javier Bardem, the same way Escobar: Paradise Lost is a better film about the drug lord than Loving Pablo – but the latter only marginally. Unlike Bardem, del Toro speaks Spanish throughout, except when addressing Nick Brady (Josh Hutcherson), which makes sense because Nick is Canadian. Moreover, most of the actors in Paradise Lost are Latino or Spanish, and their characters accordingly speak the language of Cervantes. The problem here is that the movie plays like a remake of the Last King of Scotland – and is just about as faithful to reality. Nick has gone surfing in Colombia, where he meets María (Claudia Traissac), and it's love at first sight. Little does Nick know that María is Escobar’s ‘almost-like-a-daughter-to-me’ niece. Yada yad