A Twisted American Dream

Rating: Null/10 (27 September 2013)

The movie Scarface (1983), directed by Brain De Palma, is an American tragedy taking the classic rags to riches story and going into a darker world of drugs and greed. The film is based in 1980s Miami. The main character is Tony Montana (aka-Scarface) played by Al Pacino whose morale boundaries are pushed to the edge in his fight to the top of the drug game. Scarface gets off the boat from Cuba and starts his violent accession to the top. As he progressively gets deeper in the game we see the character Scarface change into a shell of his former self. He becomes addicted to cocaine the very drug he sells. In the end Scarface dies in a shootout.
The director's goal was to show a true portrayal of the American cocaine boom of the 1980s. Brain De Palma used a group of DEA agents and other Federal Drug Enforcement officers to give the movie a realistic feel to portray the Miami drug scene. The director gives the movie a feeling of doom from the beginning. And tries to have a morale message that drugs and greed will only end in death. An unintended effect of this movie was giving an inspiration to late 1980s crack epidemic, and becoming a cult classic.
My thoughts are this is one of the best movies of the twentieth century. Scarface has a well thought out plot, which is still deeply integrated into American's pop culture. This movie has inspired generations of drug dealers. This movie's plot sucked me in watching Tony Montana's willingness to do anything to get to the top. His plunge into insanity had me mesmerized watching the inedible end of Scarface life. The climax of the movie when Scarface decides he can't murder an anti-drug activist family had me still questioning who this man Scarface is. Then he during the falling action he murders his sister and his best friend completing his horrific transition into insanity. I give this movie a 5 out of 5 rating.