Escobar: la traición

If you have watched Narcos, this film is going to be like a brief summary for you. The plot is based on the book "Loving Pablo, hating Escobar" written by Virginia Vallejo. According to her point of view, she gives her version of Escobar's story and his crimes. Bardem and Cruz give an extraordinary performance in this film, Bardem looks like the real Pablo. For this reason, I agree with the other users who are saying that the film would have been better in Spanish (like Narcos). Apart from that, I recommend this film if you are interested in Escobar's story.

Loving Pablo has certainly moments of guilty pleasure but leaves an empty feeling when reaching the end. This is the story of the rise and fall of Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar. The very clever pairing of Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz as the strongly larger-than-life couple gave this production a shot at the international box office before it will go to smaller screens. Very much action-packed, Loving Pablo marks a turn towards the mainstream for Fernando Leon de Aranoa, the Spanish writer-director best known for social and political dramas. What ends up holding the film down to its level of superficial glitz is being adapted from Vallejo's novel/memoir Loving Pablo, Hating Escobar. The story is told almost on that basis and that's the min limit.

This is a very romanticized version of Pablo Escobar's life. It was meant to be that way, so don't have any other expectations. From that point of view, one of the few couples in Hollywood (Cruz+Bardem) who can work professionaly outside their private life. They make a great team on set.

This film tells the life of Pablo Escobar and his mistress Virginia.

The story is captivating because it is intense and suspenseful. There is a constant threat of danger to all the characters involved. Many people lose their lives, yet fortunately the film is not too graphically gory. I feel sorry for the characters, and what happened to them.

On it's own this may be a decent movie. But if you watched Narcos before this movie, it only seems like a hasty summary of the series, told from the viewpoint of one of the less interesting characters. This, combined with the fact that it should have been in Spanish, and the annoying voice over, makes it a pain to watch. One upside: Javier Bardem is actually good as Pablo!