Noriega: God's Favorite

"Noriega: God's Favorite" is a film portraying the life of the notorious dictator of Panama, Tony Noriega. Although it spans only a short span of Noriega's life, namely the time he was at the peak of his power, until his fall and arrest by the Americans, the account gives us a fair idea of the style and deeds of the man.

More specifically, Noriega is portrayed as an absolute despot who despite his claims of being a man of God and a patriot, his deeds reflect the exact opposite: He is a crude womanizer, who takes advice from charlatans and witch-doctors, and whose most important act for his country has been to divert the public funds to his Swiss bank account. Alhtough a completely ludicrous figure who takes every opportunity to make ridicule of himself in public, he is nonetheless utterly ruthless and does not hesitate to crush his opponents with a vengeance.

I cannot judge objectively if this account is historically correct, as I am not an expert in Latin American history. Yet, by what I have read in the past when Noriega was at the headlines, the story seems to be within the boundaries of truth. Bob Hoskins is very good in his role as the dictator, while the other members of the cast are also more than satisfactory. The same applies for the direction as well, which keeps the film rolling smoothly without getting any boring. 7/10.

Those expecting "Noriega: God's Favorite" to be a serious docudrama, biopic, or history lesson will likely be disappointed to find its representation of the reign of Noriega as Panama's evil thug dictator to be an embellished and peculiar mix of tongue-in-cheek drama and dark comedy which is surprisingly sympathetic to the title character. With the Philippines standing in for Panama much better than Hoskins standing in for the squat, pockmarked Noriega, the film goes off tangentially with seemingly little purpose save entertaining. The latter it appears to accomplish well in spite of it's made-for-tv low-budgetness and theatrical execution. Worth a look for those who don't mind filmdom playing with serious matters of history. (B-)

This was a medium low budget, made for cable TV film. The emphasis and framing device are at least different from the usual "biopic". I cannot speak for the veracity of the film, although I do recall a fair amount of this stuff from when it was going on, particularly the invasion. The film glosses over the fact that it took a week or so to get Noriega to surrender from the papal nunciate, and that he negotiated a few small concessions in return. If the film was considered comedic, that largely escaped me. Interesting that johnnyb2000_ seems to think that the film would be more true to events if made by Oliver Stone! But he is correct that no one should try to get their history from a movie. Any movie. Bob Hoskins was odd casting for Noriega, but he seemed incapable of putting in a bad performance. Rosa Blasi was good as well. But overall, I can't really recommend this film.

The truth is, I have not seen this movie. But I wanted to write something because all the reviews I've seen of this movie so far seem to miss an extremely critical point. This movie is based on a book, which was a fictionalized account of the fall of Noriega, titled "God's Favorite." That book is one of my best-loved reads. It's not at all supposed to be a truthful recounting of the actual events, it's a dark comedy loosely based on fact. If you watch this movie thinking it's serious, I have no doubt you will be disappointed. If you approach this movie knowing it's a comedy, maybe you'll have better luck. Then again, if you still don't like it, maybe try looking up the book sometime. Based on my great experience with the book, I'm looking forward to seeing this movie sometime soon. (I didn't even know there was a movie made until I went hunting for a review of the book to share with friends.)

It is hard to find a person who is both extremely evil and at the same time funny. Well Noriega was it. He was basically a walking-parody of every dictator the world has ever known. He was so mad many of the things he said and did were funny (in a black comedy sort of way). He was so evil anyone could write a book out of all the horrors he committed during the years he ruled over Panama. And strangely, his luck ended only after he was finally apprehended.

Usually, movies based in real-life events often fail to be accurate. Well, in this movie, even the uniforms worn by the military were exact replicas of the real thing. And Noriega did have a picture of Hitler in his office. And he did have a statue of the Virgin Mary next to it. And he was a vegetarian. Also a voodoo priest. And the people who tried to overthrow him made the mistake of leaving him alone in his office as the movie shows. Everything you see in this movie happened more or less. The real Noriega said some of the crazy things you can hear in this film. He did the horrors you see in this movie and even more. He survived two coups, Colombian cartels and an American invasion of Panama.

This movie basically has it all. It is a black comedy, a violent drama, and it gives you the chance to get a glimpse of a part of history most people have forgotten. Excellent performance by Bob Hoskins. Lawrence Wright did an excellent job with the script. This movie never fails to entertain, educate and at the same time bring to life a very enigmatic and dark person: Tony Noriega.