The Two Escobars....
Truly a fantastic documentary...this is a must watch for anyone interested in football and its relationship with organised crime...
The doc deals with two main characters...Pablo Escobar the drug kingpin and Andres Escobar someone seen as potentially Colombia's best ever footballer...both of them were gunned down in during the 90s...
During the early 90s Colombia had an outstanding set of footballers which was coupled with drug traffickers taking control of football teams...this ensured the clubs could keep their best players and attract foreign talent...it proved good for the likes of Escobar who could launder money through the club...
The Cali cartel also took control of a club...it discusses one example of the corruption involved...Cali paid off a ref...Medellin lose...ref gets murdered after the game...Cali make good money off gambling against Medellin...
This doesn't detract from the fact that Nacional Medellin are a legitimate team as they win the Copa Libertadores...the national team also was developing into a top team...
Its show how Escobar developed football by putting money into the slums through housing and facilities...this led to him being friends with many of the footballers...it shows his Robin Hood status...it goes through his eventual problems and how violence increases...
Football however in a fractious country wrought with crime and violence acts as a unifier...a form of identity for Colombians...a paramilitary jokes about watching a match with a FARC rebel cos at that moment they are all the same...football becomes the pride of Colombia as they hammer Argentina 5-0 away to qualify for the world cup...having entered to jeers of 'drug dealers'...they were applauded off the pitch by Argentinian fans when they won the game...
Football could curb violence by preaching values and tolerance, a sanctuary of unity...this however all changed ironically with Pablo's death...an already violent society became more violent because with the boss gone the rules were gone and everyone wanted to be the new boss...disorder had become even more anarchaic...
Andres is presented as a well behave, religious boy who wanted nothing more than to help his country...prior to the '94 world cup he was due to go to sign for Milan...
There were some true eye openers from the World Cup...all the team had received death threats and were naturally worried...
They lost their first game 3-1 and consequently Chonto Herrera one of the starters got a phone call and was told his brother had been murdered...the players got to their hotel to find on their TV screen a demand for a player Bennabas to be dropped otherwise they would all be killed...Bennabas was one of the best players and every states the reason for him being dropped is because the Cali traffickers wanted their players playing in order to increase their sale value...Escobar respected football but the new guys didn't...
The next game involved the infamous own goal by Andres...something which eventually cost him his life when he returned to Medellin...its suggested that Andres would have been alive under Pablo but not under Carlos Casteno paramilitary leader who had filled the vacuum...
Its superbly filmed with some excellent archival footage...and is truly a tragic tale...theres a lot to be tearful about especially when they read out a message Andres had regarding the game...they have excellent access to players...the likes of Valderrama and Asprilla...they interview family members of both the deceased...the President at the time...other cartels and even Popeye who was Pablo's right hand man who openly states that he has killed over 250 people...
The 90s in Colombia was a truly anarchaic time and this doc captures that brilliantly and it shows the rise and fall of Colombian football...a must watch for those interested in Latin American politics and those interested in footie...
http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rc...c6zagnXIG6SYUmrRw&sig2=ydxo5gopR_cjcaAmFHB8lQ
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Sicko of the highest order.
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