Push it to the limit!Welcome to the limit!

Rating: 10/10 (25 June 2005)

The first impression ever made about this film and its main character,even before I fully watched or understood it,was the immense lust for life,dignity and harsh masculine beauty(not necessarily in the outer sense of the word)Pacino invests in this character.This impression lingered with me obsessively long after the film was over and was boosted by further viewings. While it is redundant to repeat the story of Tony Montana,the main character of this film,it is very important to stress upon the fact that,without wanting to elude his vulnerability,he still is the product of his age and society. His story actually stats like a history lesson,beginning when the Cold War slowly drew to a close and Cuban refugees could enter the U.S.,Tony being one. For the petty criminal the new country truly is the promised land,but this was the general mood at the turn from the 1970's to the 1980's. The story starts during Jimmy Carter's reign,but much of Montana's rise as successful gangland baron takes place during the administration of a Ronald Reagan. Apparently unimportant trivia but it explains much of the context in which Montana rose to power-the Reagan era marks the shift from a Baptist,Christian,unspectacular president like Carter to a more ambitious one:Reagan the actor,the showman,the marketer(of his own public image).At the same time,with Reagan's direct support it marks a historical change from two decades of relentless social turmoil,crisis,shaken credibility to an age when the U.S. is regaining is status as world power,when a new hedonistic and egocentric generation of "golden boys",tired of the elder generation's nihilism and hippie rebellion,will turn a seemingly endless and incurable economic recession in an age of unprecedented prosperity when consumerism and cashing in legendarily climaxed. History records this period as "reaganism" and its motto was:"Greed...is good",Montana illustrating this mentality as good as the broker acted by Michael Douglas in the film "Wall Street" which made these words famous. From rags to riches in record time at all cost-this is the way even crime became an economical wonder in the gilded 1980's. In a few years former penniless immigrant becomes head of a multimillion empire where money keeps on rolling in. The soundtrack,considered by many worse than that of a dated porn,is not only awesome,making the film worth watching almost only to hear it,its cult classic "Push it to the limit" says it all-this outstandingly,divinely decadent and lush track reminding of the not least famous theme from "Neverending story"(both soundtracks being composed by the timelessly compelling genius Giorgio Moroder)represent a state,a mood,which makes the two so different films resemble:they are both lavish 80's modern legends,both dealing with initiating journeys,only that "Scarface" is a more violent,yet equally fascinating never-ending story about the almost mythical quest incited by unlimited ambition. Even this film's flaws-though unimportant-are the typical product of the eighties.The visuals are extremely unprofessional,during the entire film the image looking rather shabby due to extremely bleak,poor use of light and color,the viewer easily mistaking this film with a typical B-movie of that age,these commercial,cheap films seen on the rudimentary videotapes of that age including martial arts and boring,unpretentious amounts of pointless violence and nudity. Ironically this flaw mentioned above would taint every other cinematic masterpiece,however considering the subject,the B-movie quality is an advantage as it may be intentional to add to this film more "hood" credibility. Tony Montana is far more than a simple newly rich criminal,he is a complex ,at a certain degree,even barbarically,savagely heroic character.His famous speech in titled "Make way for the bad guy" is an interesting and uncomfortably ironic view at 1980's consumerism. While acknowledging that he is a typical product of his age he still finds the power to sneer at the lucrative,but superficial social establishment of this period. Pacino almost anticipates the not less controversial speech of his later character Frank Slade from "Scent of a woman",in both of the cases two harsh,macho-like yet innerly uncompromising characters revealing profound and radical truths in a uncensored,sharp language. One ends up considering the bad guy less immoral than the more respectable members of society-at least in Montana's case you know that he is a killer,a drug-dealer while other far more influential politicians and tycoons only knew to hide their speculations better,had respectable images and no criminal record. Especially in the 1980's U.S.,it was unimportant how to get rich,in Reaganism only the outcome mattered and while people like Montana were the scapegoats and/or the guys who did the dirty work so that more "respectable" people don't get soiled(in both cases Montana was useful to society and its "pilars"),while more immoral people performed the same shady deals at a larger scale,comfortably hidden by their conventional WASP image and their superficial appearance of righteousness. Gifted with the ambition of a Shakespearean character,in Montana's case,in a twist differing from Shakespeare,it is not his ambition leading to his irremediable downfall.It may be partly explained that during the 1980's one couldn't be too ambitious and,unlike in the Shakespearean tragedy,even pathological,Machiavellian,unrestrained ambition hadn't a bad press. The only thing not allowed in this calculating,overly greedy age was to show your human side and while in the world of crime feelings were always an impediment,being so 1980's America(even if not as criminal)was the worst move possible.Like in the closing scene from Macbeth,Montana will be confronted with final consequence of his deeds with Shakespearean depth and intensity... Montana's rise and fall also remind of another typical gangster embodying the American Dream-Gatsby,even the pool where Montana is finally crashing into seem like a reference to the not less famous swimming pool scene. Both Montana and Gatsby are of humble origins,both craving for money and power,and after owning "the world" for a while,both have to discover the emptiness of the American Dream,both end up floating in a pool. Everything mentioned above and many more subtleties of this masterpiece almost turn it into a period drama about the recent past, a lavish portion of 1980's memorabilia combined with unexpected art film accomplishment and Pacino(along with Scent.. and Godfather)at his best.