2005 ROUND UP: COCAINE COWBOYS (Corben)

Yet another larger-than-life documentary, COCAINE COWBOYS attempts to capture the glitzy, gawdy world of 1980s Miami, complete with a soundtrack provided by Jan Hammer. From the opening credits, what we are seeing is stylized and cool and funny and so very over the top. That it never becomes self-parody is to its own credit. What could have become an exercise in camp or irony instead ends up being a love letter to the times and places.

Perhaps it may strike some people as odd that drugs could be presented in a loving light. While the documentary definitely exposes some of the uglier elements of the drug world (the insane bloodbaths that result from the trade), it also takes care to point out that men like Mick Munday and John Roberts, key figures in the Miami scene, were businessmen, who believed in the philosophy of supply-and-demand. They are providing a service to the people of Miami. The further irony of this situation is that the money they make they pour back into the Miami community, fostering development and commerce where there was once seemingly only blight and ruin. Roberts claims he spent $50 million in Miami restaurants, car dealerships, nightclubs, bars, tailors, and the like. COCAINE COWBOYS never explicitly points the finger at the entire city of Miami as an accomplice, but it does take care to note that there were virtually no cops there until things turned violent.

And, yes, they turn violent. The second half of COCAINE COWBOYS is not until the second half of SCARFACE, as we see the result of such an incredible amount of money being made in such a fast time, and in an unchecked industry. A central figure at this time is Griselda Blanco, who is simply too horrific to be made up. She is linked with the Colombian cartels (as Roberts and Munday and most of the people in the film are) and is said to be involved with some 200 murders. The people interviewed take care to note that Blanco was "the godmother" and she did not fuck around. She had people killed for looking at her wrong. In the film's darkest moments, we hear from her ace, Rivi, that she ordered him to kill a man who had disrespected her son. Rivi and a driver roll up on the guy, shooting into his car, but missing the target. They later learn that there was a 2 year old in the car and that they managed to shoot him. Rivi is terrified, but Blanco loves this, and soon is offering larger rewards for her men to kill the children of people who owe her money. She is, apparently, evil incarnate.

COCAINE COWBOYS, with its neon opening credits and cheesy score, could easily have veered off into parody, but it manages to play everything straight. Through a mix of old news clips, interviews, and re-enactments, we see how things played out through the media and the eyes of the people who lived and trafficked there. Perhaps the greatest strength is the directors allowing the players to tell their own story without injecting themselves into the mix. I guess I'm just sick of the modern documentary style of Michael Moore and Morgan Spurlock (which was really influenced by the self-involved, docudrama "science fiction" films of my favorite director, Werner Herzog) and find it refreshing when someone, like Billy Corben, has enough faith in the source material and people involved to tell the story. COCAINE COWBOYS may make a top 20 of 2006, not top 10, but it's infinitely entertaining and engaging and an interesting slice of life in a certain place at a certain time.