Dec
17

The Untouchables

To truly understand the value of teamwork, look no further than The Untouchables. While it is true that there is no I in team, there are those who are born leaders, and those who are great teammates. In this film, you get the best of both. Sometimes you need a leader on the team who can speak, decide, and organize, but you also need the abilities and talents of the rest to have a great team. Regardless of the number of team members, it takes a monumental team effort to bring down one of the baddest mobsters in film, Al Capone.

Whether you are faced with a big or small challenge ahead of you, it will take guts and sacrifice to overcome it. You have to be willing to accept defeat in order to  prevail; and as tough as losing a valuable ally and friend can be, it cannot kill your purpose of defeating your enemies. Kevin Costner plays federal agent Eliot Ness; a man that has been given the elusive task of bringing down Capone. What you can take from his character is that as great as we can be through our own strengths and abilities, it is a lot easier to work with others.

A very critical discussion could have been made about Ness if his character was a prideful and ruthless agent who felt that his desire to bring down Capone alone would be enough. When you put a team of people together who come from different backgrounds, and with different abilities, then you have quite an untouchable team. It takes a team effort to keep fighting even when casualties on your side leave you outnumbered. Perhaps the idea of bringing down a mad man is nothing new when it comes to film. From spy-thrillers, to high-risk espionage, to undercover agents, there has always been a character who brings corruption and chaos to society. However the path to present that character’s life and influence on others around him is what brings about greatness in film, and its different for every movie.

It is not very often in films where you have the opportunity to see a great display of team work for both good and evil. Perhaps even bigger than Capone’s persona was his mob; his loyal followers who did more damage as Capone led from behind the scenes. When you have such a tremendous following for what you do, this shows that anything is possible. There is power in the masses, and it can be an unstoppable force if you put your mind to what you want to accomplish. What was more impressive than the quality of team work that was demonstrated on both sides is the  elaborate story and plot of this film. It was a very strategic and thought out plan to lead the audience from beginning to end with many interesting twists and surprises. You witness the remarkable achievement of victory even when you feel as though the war has been lost as well.

What can you say about the cast and direction of this film? Kevin Costner, Sean Connery, Andy Garcia, and Robert De Niro lead a well assembled cast of actors and supporting actors in this classic of mob films. Brian De Palma takes a  much darker and deeper approach than Scarface, and delivers top-notch acting and action that take you deep into a corrupted Chicago at the hands of Al Capone. So if you have not done so, join the untouchables!

Dec
10

Scarface

At some point or another, we have all fallen in love with the concept that the world is in our hands. It is a bit of a rewarding feeling to know that you have the power and control to call the shots and be the boss of your life. While this may be true- you have to take responsibility for your actions, we all need someone or many others to support us along the way. When you get consumed by greed, and as big as your world may seem with riches, wealth, and power, it is actually much smaller than you think it is. So small, that you end up losing it. This was the tragic fate of Tony Montana, or Scarface.

It was in 1997 in the film Titanic, where Leonardo Di Caprio had a memorable line: “I’m the king of the world.” Of course, his fate was also tragic like Scarface’s, but he wanted to share his world with the love of his life, Rose, and all his friends, family, and loved ones around him. A brilliant concept of spreading the wealth. While the premise of Scarface is the opposite of that, it is a great narrative to base a film on because it takes you down the destructive path of a man who wants nothing more than everything for himself.

It is hard to forget how many of us are driven by the pursuit of the American dream. It is a different dream for everyone, but it is real in our minds. This concept of relevancy is very persuasive when it comes to film. Whether the film has a tragic ending or a beautiful one, you feel for characters who share your same dreams and goals in life. Ultimately, it is what you do and how you get to that dream that makes all the difference. This film is driven by a particularly slow pace, which is both its flaw and strength. It makes it easy to lose your interest, but it also lets you keep track of how the decisions and connections that Scarface made ultimately made him a success overnight.

This is where the supporting cast of this film shined. There were many big and small supporting roles that added depth to the story, but in the end, it was all part of the plan to build Scarface’s empire. The film is driven by Al Pacino’s incredible performance as a Cuban political refugee. This crossover for him to perform as a character of another culture deserves a lot of credit. It can be argued that the film may have been more effective if Pacino had performed as a mob character from the states, but also, the film could have benefited from a deeper and more complex story that would have picked up the pace.

It is important to consider how from a historical perspective, the Cuban Mariel boatlift was a very significant historical piece in time, not only for Cuba, but for the U.S. as well. So it adds a necessary historical and cultural background to the film’s production. To capture the rise of the “Little Havana” in Miami through the eyes of the leader of the biggest drug cartel around has made this film not only a cult classic, but a highly respected one in the genre of mob films. So it is time to say goodnight to the bad guy.