In the Movies- Blow

For the "In the Movies" assignment I watched "Blow" starring Johnny Depp. The movie delves deep into the life of George Jung who established the cocaine trade in the United States in the 1970's. The movie is set in the "hippie" era of the United States so experimenting was commonplace. What started out as smoking/selling marijuana, turned quickly into a business that seemed to have much more upside; the cocaine trade. With a small market in the United States, Depp (Jung) starts to develop a cocaine trade in the United States in the 70's. Bouts with the law land him in trouble, however his knack for this trade catches the eye of Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar. Escobar allows Jung to become his right-hand-man and makes him the kingpin in the United States cocaine trade. I believe at one point, they say in the film that 85% of all of the cocaine supplied in the United States came from Depp's character.

While all of this is happening, Jung's dependence on cocaine affects his relationship with his wife, parents, and the people around him. He chases the high over and over but the movie is developed in such a way that it makes you want to know more. However, given the time period I felt the movie's portrayal of his addiction was spot-on. I didn't think they under or over-sold his interactions with his family, wife, etc. As the movie progresses, we see Jung finally realize that the life of addiction is not everything it is cracked up to be. It's hard to feel empathy towards Jung, but given what he built around him, the movie makes it out to be a noble act of him trying to stop his frequent cocaine use. I would say in the context of just looking at the addiction itself (which is hard to do in the film with all that is going on around) I would feel for his struggles with addiction. Given everything going on around him, he should have eliminated all of the extra-curriculars in the drug trade; but it seemed as if once you're in so deep, there is no way out.

In the movie, his dad seemed disappointed but always welcomed him back. Jung's mom frequently would say how disappointed she was and would call the cops on him and try and get him arrested. All of his friends, including his wife were addicts as well. So, it is impressive to see his struggles to fight his own addiction when everyone else around him was addicted to the same thing. I think it is important to note the era in which this movie took place ('60s and '70s). As stated previously, it was commonplace for the usage of these drugs so the backlash was not as bad. The negative connotations of these harder drugs were not looked down on as much as they are nowadays. In saying this, the people around him accepted him and did not shun him from their lives. I believe the movie didn't really show the true side of cocaine addiction, mostly because it was more focused on his drug trades and how it was built from nothing. The societal relations as I've said prior seemed accurate for the time. However, today, I feel that his addiction would be heavily frowned upon.

From what we've learned in class, addiction can affect everyone around you. The example I will use is the "support" system he had which were his friends who were addicts just like him. With that environment, it is hard to believe that he would try to get clean. "Blow" does a good job illustrating also the impact cocaine has had on our society. This movie represents the foundation in which drug trading of cocaine into the US really caught foot. This movie gives a small glimpse into the plague that has been spreading throughout the United States since. In saying that, this movie was a phenomenal watch and I highly recommend it for entertainment value and some historical value.