Entertaining

Rating: 7/10 (10 June 2018)

1978. Barry Seal, an airline pilot, is recruited by the CIA to fly special transport missions in Central America. Initially it is a matter of information-for-supplies but ultimately he ends up being a drug transporter for Pablo Escobar and the Medellin Cartel and supplying anti-Communist groups, including the Nicaraguan Contras, with weapons.
Entertaining. Told in a very light-hearted, fun way it is a roller-coaster ride of humour and action. The humour stems largely from the ineptness and unintended consequences of the actions of the CIA and US government. If told in a more serious way, this would have been a very damning indictment of the US's involvement in Central America in the 1980s, and a powerful examination of how the CIA and US government abuse the loyalty of their own citizens.
However, the story is told as a comedy, with absurdity piled upon absurdity, so difficult to believe. Just as well, as, in actual fact, much of what is described is fictional. In particular, the real Barry Seal was hardly a paragon of virtue and only ended up working with the US Government once he was facing jail time.
Still, an entertaining story, regardless of its accuracy.