'Sicario' comes from the Roman term for zealot...

Rating: 10/10 (24 January 2016)

Sicario is technically speaking a great film; it looks beautiful, the score is suitably daunting and the acting of the highest order. But what makes Sicario a timeless film is the message it subtly delivers.
There are those who criticize both the role of Emily Blunt's character (Kate Mercer) and the plot as being overly simplistic. And while I see their point of view, I suspect that these critics, much like those who praise the film as being a vindication of the idea that the 'means justify the ends', are both missing the actual point of this film.
Sicario should not be seen as movie that argues for brutal measures against brutal forces. Although that is what the actual plot delivers, the plot is merely a vessel to deliver a much more important, and more difficult message to swallow; That the USA's and global posture of the war on drugs since the late 1980's has only made the situation worse for all in involved (especially those who live in countries where the production and mass distribution occur).
Brolin's character (Matt Graver) essentially plays the voice of the devil's advocate and Del Toro's character (Alejandro) acts as the devil's hand. Both of them believe that the only solution is to create some semblance of order. Even going so far as aiming to replicate the 'Medellin' period, when Pablo Escobar almost single handedly controlled the global drug trade (for those interested, I highly recommend Netflix's 'Narcos').
Anyone with some idea of that period will know that any semblance of order that existed under the Medellin cartel, was just as brutal and violent, only it primarily cost the lives of Colombians rather than allowing the violence to spill over into the USA itself.
This film should be seen as an argument, a powerful one at that, of just what our global hypocrisy towards drugs is costing us. That the people of Mexico, Central and South America (and a whole host of others who find themselves in the ever expanding network of the drug trade) are soaking up most of the brutality so that the rest of the world can pretend our legislation and our redundant conservative stance against legalizing drugs of any form is working (for those who have watched the film, think of the end scene).
We do not need to "figure out how to get 20% of Americans to stop snorting and smoking s***". We need to come to terms with the fact that as long as any substance is illegal, there will always be those ready to take the risks and be as ruthless as necessary, to benefit from the absurd margins our legislation creates.
The world has created an artificial and highly profitable supply problem for drugs and it is becoming more difficult with each passing year, to wrest control away from those who profit of it, and I'm not just talking about drug-lords here.
The events in Sicario are still possibly fictional (in terms of the how the drug trade is being combated), but unless we take its actual message to heart, it will, sooner that we would like to believe, become an ever present reality. A reality where violence becomes the default solution, a reality where the 'lobos' and 'Sicarios' roam free and make dens from Juarez all the way to the national capitals of every nation on Earth.