Sicario review – Benny the Bull in Murder DC

By tdf, November 3, 2015

I’ve long been a fan of Benny the Bull. Ever since first noticing him as an oddity in The Usual Suspects and with greater intrigue when portraying a chap I knew well from Hunter’s letters, Oscar Acosta in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. He continued his fine form, and branched out into roles with more depth in 21 grams, Che and Traffic whilst still making his mark as a solid lead in Wolfman and Way of the Gun.

He is an actor whose face easily comes across as conflicted, weathered by life and somewhat grizzled. A man who knows suffering and has become quiet, able to let the misery flow across and through him without reacting. Unless he must.

Sicario follows the story of a do-gooder DEA agent and her delving into the reality of the US War on drugs. What struck me most poignantly about the film, other than the wonderful cinematography and dark soundscape accompanying the action on screen, was the manner in which the CIA were illustrated. No doubt this will wash over the mong masses without registering a notion of ‘wait a second…the CIA are bad?’, the message remains strong.

The bread and butter of the CIA is running drugs, military coups and assassinations. Always has been, always will be. They have been responsible for countless killings, training death squads, targeting political opposition to interests of their boss pigs and ensuring they control the trade of illicit substances and often weapons on a global scale, not just domestically. They are plainly a paramilitary force supping sustenance from the societal teat under the guise of…of…of…what? They are our terrorists. Perhaps the military wing of the NSA.

It perplexes me to understand, perhaps I mean accept, why so many people find it impossible to believe that our own governments are terrorists. Yet, clearly the mass media plays its part, and most people are so dumbed down that critical thinking, even just thinking…is beyond them. Told what to think, what to feel, what to wear, what to do, who to be. A dangerous state of affairs…

Make no mistake. This film should be classified as ‘documentary’. The CIA are mega killers, vicious ultra powerful mercenaries; a crowd with no interest in Law, in humanity, in ethics or morality. Their mechanism is murder, torture, terrorism. Does that simply not register? The major covert operatives of Obamistan are killers and drug dealers and bombers…Any reaction? Likely not. Just enjoy the bright lights, and explosions, and damn those cartel folk, good ol’ Uncle Sam is doing his best???

The Covert Insidious Services are a Death Squad. They are the secretive arm of the global financier power core which owns the Shite House, rules the other nearby powers, namely MI5,MI6,Mossad and the vassal states the world over. They represent the interests of their paymasters. Do their dirtiest of work. They are assuredly arming and directing IS ad Al Nusra as they did the savage fiends in Libya, as they did in Kiev, as they did in everywhere we, as the Western Powers of Liberty and Democracy have invaded, ‘fomented’ regime change, since WWII when the worst result was the empowerment of the industrial/commercial interests running the show in the US. They didn’t win the war, Russia did. Yet…it was these vicious interests which prospered…and morphed into the fascist fuckfest we now smile at when we see Obama make jokes of sending drones

…when he has come from his daily signing off duty of the Kill List of drone strikes against not just those judged as enemies of the corporate interests ruling Washington, but anyone, anywhere, who could perhaps, potentially, prove a threat..

The film portrays the CIA as no different from the cartels they are ostensibly fighting with the many millions of dollars poured into the War on Drugs. Much like the War on Terror, the reality is that ‘on’ should in both cases be replaced with ‘of’. There are no good guys to contrast the bad guys in true Hollywood tradition.

Blunt plays a wannabe Mother Theresa with an M16. And she becomes boring as the action – so brilliantly brought to the screen – unfolds…Brolin is superb as the CIA chap. His character strong and jestful. Whilst Blunt changes into many forms through the voyage he remains on point; believable, as is his hit squad.

Yet, the story is about Del Toro’s Alejandro, the Hit man. He plays his role superbly. I just wish…Blunt had been put down. And she would have been, if the script stuck to its refreshing realness. A protected cackle of mercenaries would not think twice about putting a bother into the Earth.

Alejandro’s mission is righteous, yet we are not afforded a full rap sheet of his own intimated past which appears in brief flurries, only in words. Clearly haunted and extremely capable, it is his path which pulls the narrative to its curious conclusion.

Given the subject matter, Sicario is fittingly brutal. The dark beats and sinister cinematography add seriousness, even a sense of fear to proceedings. There are no winners, only losers. And its refreshing to find a director willing to avoid the puerile pitfalls of softening the razor sharp horror of a scene which is played out daily for so many around the world, not just in Murder Central, Jaurez.

My only gripe is the focus on Blunt’s decent into bothersome silliness. Yet this is dealt with well enough when Alejandro looks upon her frail, fallen soul, almost fondly, and explains that she reminds him of someone he was once close to…prior to re-affirming the trajectory which only a bullet in his brain will arrest.

Too real to be classed as an action thriller, comedic in places, dark throughout and educational. Highly recommended.

Further valuable research…