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El patrón: vida y muerte de Pablo Escobar. Los archivos privados. Dir. Marc de Beaufort. Colombia, 2002. Dur. 70 min.
This documentary chronicles the life of Pablo Escobar-the infamous drug lord persecuted by the Colombian and American governments and admired by the poor-from the point of view of his closest family members. It includes never-before-seen footage from Escobar's private collection, furnished to the director by Escobar's family, with the intention of showing the protagonist the way they remember him. This footage, combined with the director's voiceover, is intertwined with interviews conducted with his closest family members: his mother, Hermilda Gaviria, his sister Luz Maria Escobar, his brother Roberto Escobar, and his cousin, his closest confidant and the spokesperson, Jaime Gaviria. Not surprisingly, the figure emerging from the interviews and recordings is far from the calculating villain Escobar tends to connote in the public eye. His mother affirms that she never considered him a criminal, his sister highlights Pablo's dedication to charitable works, and his brother stresses Escobar's mild mannerism (he never once heard Pablo swear) and his religiosity, as well as his love and devotion for family and friends. In other words, Escobar emerges as a loving family man, who enjoys friends and good company at his rancho, Napoles, filled with exotic animals, sports cars and airplanes. One of Escobar's most striking characteristics is his utter devotion to his mother; he does everything to please her, calms her every time the press brings to light his most recent crimes, and even sends her on expensive trips to Russia and China when he is locked up in jail. There is one instance caught on tape, when his mother (who was a highly regarded teacher) and her female friends sing and dance in Escobar's luxurious estate. This intimate and idyllic image contrasts sharply with Escobar's public persona at the time, that of a ruthless drug lord who imposed his reign of terror on the entire population of Colombia. This dichotomy underlies the entire film, subverting Escobar's family's intentions to clear his name, but, at the same time, placing a...