Text: Julie Schwietert Collazo
Images: Courtesy of Jeff Zimbalist
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“[T]he film gripped me in this anxious way, almost like cocaine. My palms were sweaty. My heart beat fast. I was excited and depressed throughout.”
That’s how writer Mitch Anderson described what it was like for him to watch “The Two Escobars,” a documentary about the relationship between drugs and soccer in Colombia during the era of Pablo Escobar, cocaine’s kingpin, and Andres Escobar, the “gentleman of the field” and captain of Colombia’s national team.
Francisco and I had the opportunity to see “The Two Escobars” at the 2010 HBO New York International Latino Film Festival, but we’d missed the first 15 minutes; plus, this is the kind of documentary that’s worth viewing twice. Director Jeff Zimbalist was kind enough to send us a screener copy so we could watch it in full.
The protagonists of “The Two Escobars” are two of Colombia’s most famous figures of the late 20th century, both of whom are dead now. Zimbalist resolves the problems associated with making a film about two people who can no no longer be interviewed by combining in-depth interviews with the people who were closest to both of the Escobars with unprecedented archival footage that gives credence to what those interviewees are saying.
And what they’re saying–though they come from opposite backgrounds in most cases, as well as wildly divergent motives–is that the stories of drugs and soccer in Colombia that have been told to date are incomplete. The relationship between drugs and soccer, and the relationships among all of the people considered by the documentary, are far more complex than the dominant narratives have allowed us to believe.
For someone who shares our deep interest in Colombia, or for someone who is as compelled by overlooked stories as we are, or for someone who believes there is never a single narrative of an event, but many, “The Two Escobars” is likely to be exactly as Anderson described it: anxiety-provoking, playing on every emotion and challenging whatever conclusions you might have made about Colombia. And ultimately, the film fills in a gap in the historical record, contextualizing complicated chapters in Colombian history.
Mitch Anderson interviewed “The Two Escobars” director Jeff Zimbalist on Matador Change. Read the fascinating back story of the documentary here.
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“The Two Escobars” is currently being screened in the US and around the world. For a full list of upcoming showings, visit the film’s website. The DVD
DVD will be available for purchase in November 2010.
