Don't Do Blow... but watch the movie

Rating: 10/10 (5 July 2013)

Based on a true story, the film Blow depicts the life story of George Jung, prisoner #19225-004. This movie provides real life lessons and over the top portrayals of the drug culture from the 1960's through the 1980's. By showing how one man became tempted by fast money and big risks, this film has successfully shown how drug smugglers become who they are and it also shows that they are just as human as anyone else. With a wonderful story and great casting, Blow has revolutionized the drug movie and brought many new ideas regarding drugs and illegal activities to light.
George was the son of an honest working, but relatively poor father who could never make enough money to satisfy George's mother. While living a childhood with poor but loving parents, George Jung decided he never wanted to live the way his parents had. With his life decisions in mind, it seems that George never learned his father's lesson that "money isn't real it only seems real." When George became old enough to move out, Jung moved to California with his best friend where they began selling marijuana to support their newfound independence. Despite not making much, George saw the allure of the easy money and was immediately hooked. After peddling weed on California beaches, one thing led to another and George found himself shipping loads of marijuana to the New England area where he grew up. With the help of his childhood friends, Jung had begun making more money than he could ever imagine.
His national marijuana operation ended after he was arrested in Chicago with 660 pounds of marijuana and was ordered to serve prison time in 1974. As the Depp narrates, his character went in to prison with a bachelor's in marijuana and came out with a doctorate in cocaine. As soon as he was done serving his couple of years in prison, George was working with one of his fellow inmates shipping cocaine from Pablo Escobar's ranch to the United States. It has been claimed that Jung was making anywhere from $1.5-$15 million per run from Columbia. With this easy money, one can see how his decisions were blinded by the many motivations. Despite this whole drug-smuggling operation seeming like a great story, this is only one portion of George Jung's story.
Before serving his time in prison after his 1974 Chicago arrest, he lost his longtime girlfriend to cancer. The reason I find this so important to the story is that one could assume that losing his girlfriend, whom he planned to marry, may have hardened him in some manner. By having to cope with losing a fiancée, and having parents that have disowned you because of the decisions you've made, one may be led to believe that there isn't much to lose by beginning work as a drug smuggler again. This is why I believe George was so willing to work with Pablo Escobar and begin trafficking cocaine. I find this intriguing because most movies wouldn't be so willing to sympathize with the drug users and usually depict them as low-life's who have many psychological problems. Granted, George had a lot of issues, he was just a normal guy that took a few wrong turns and found himself regretting his life decisions.
This movie does a wonderful job of differentiating the main character from other bad men participating in this line of work. Played by Johnny Depp, George is a character that you begin to sympathize with and almost root for as you watch the movie. Even if you do think drugs are evil and there are no excuses for supplying America with 85% of their cocaine, as you watch the movie, Depp's narration throughout the film begins to relate to you in different ways than you could imagine. This film does a great job of showing Jung's gradually conflicting motives between the love for his family and the love for money and luxuries.
From becoming an independent man living away from his family for the first time, to a husband and a caring father, Johnny Depp was perfectly casted for this lead role as George Jung. Throughout the film George's appearance changes as he starts to do drugs and begins smuggling pounds of cocaine. Depp's long hair most accurately depicts the drug user of the 70's and 80's. Also, Depp's character does not look out of place in the lavish parties of the very wealthy drug lords. There are many different things about Depp that made him perfect for the role of this dominant, yet caring drug lord.
As you watch Blow, depending on your view on drugs you may start off against Depp's character; but towards the end you will be on Jung's side, wishing that he could take back his bad mistakes. Regardless of his supplying cocaine to America, the end of this movie will bring you to tears in sympathy for George Jung. You will be wishing George listened to his father's words of wisdom about how money is not everything that matters in life. If you don't believe that you will end up feeling bad for this genius drug smuggler by the end of this movie, please watch it and prove me wrong.