OT- 30 for 30 "The Two Escobars"

I agree with your review.  I was previously familiar with the story of Pablo from a History Channel doc, but this was a new angle on that story.  I really appreciate that the filmmakers stayed out of the way and let those who experienced the events tell the story.  I couldn't help but feel for the players as they were outlining how things fell apart once they got to the World Cup, both on and off the field.

I was just about to post about this, glad I saw your post as it saved a double thread start.

Totally agree, it was incredibly, incredibly good.  I've never seen any of the other 30 for 30s, but, I want to go back and re-watch some of the others because if they're anywhwere near as good as this one, then they must be worth a view.

Agree about it being quite an emotional roller coaster....  it was a really, really moving story.  The part at the end where Andres Escobar's fiancee and sister quoted his last words from the newspaper article....  Wow.  What a really powerful, touching moment.

Re. what you said about the part near the end where they're talking about how "this wouldn't have happened without Pablo Escobar"...  I didn't like it a whole lot either, but I appreciated that the filmmakers incluced that, because, yes, there is some truth to it.  That, IMO is good documentary filmmaking, that they included things that are controversial and tough to swallow, but are a part of the story nonetheless.  They included the nuances in the story, something which unfortunately is often not done in our soundbite society.

Overall, a great, great film and I highly recommend it to anyone that missed it.

And, to be honest, I watch a lot of documentaries (though hardly ever sports-related), I think, compared to your average joe who isn't in any way associated with film/tv/media, etc., and I thought this one was very, very good. And I like how you point out that it was good filmmaking to include that part at the end about Pablo. The filmmakers didn't say it; it was the people who were involved who clearly believe that. So i agree- they did the right thing by including it. And, in a sick way, I think there's some truth to what they say, too. (Granted, my mental comparison is to, say, "The Wire," or other things such as that where there's a power vacuum in an underworld and murders and chaos invariably supposedly rise for a bit until a new order is established). Also, randomly, I don't know how legit those murder rate numbers they showed at the end are. I mean, I'd imagine the murder rate numbers during the los PEPE's/Escobar's reign could plausibly be inflated by the government to support why they're seeking U.S. assistance, and articifically deflated by the same government now to say, "hey, come to Colombia! We're only half as deadly as we used to be!"

It was by far the best one yet, although I am quite partial to Run Ricky, Run. I've been really impressed with the ESPN 30 for 30 series, how many more are they going to make?

esobars.  Mind blower of a documentary.  Some of the soccer footage of that team and the settings they played in and the skill level they showed growing up and through the cup process was phenomenal.  94 was the first cup I watched while eating pizza and drinking beer during grad school.  I had no idea how much was going on but I do remember some of the standouts on that team.    

Pretty rough stuff...well worth it.  

If anyone knows where to watch online, please pass along.

Mind boggling that Pablo controlled 80% of the world's cocaine market at one time, good for a cool $25 billion.

I'm not sure if any of you guys ever check out Alan Sepinwall's blog, but he's a tv critic (formerly of the Newark Star Ledger) who I enjoy. His review of the documentary is at the link below, along with his review of the "June 17, 1994" documentary I mentioned in the OP:

http://www.hitfix.com/blogs/whats-alan-watching/posts/review-30-for-30-is-back-with-the-outstanding-june-17-1994-and-the-two-escobars

I actually came across him (Sepinwall) while looking for stuff on "The Wire," and generally tend to agree with his analysis of shows. His favorites are my favorites, mostly, too: He loves "Sons of Anarchy," "Breaking Bad," "Treme," "Mad Men," "Justified," and "Lost." Oh, and he also thinks "The Wire" is the greatest dramatic achievement in television. So yeah, he and I are on the same page on most things tv-related.

I do enjoy the 30 for 30 series, but I still wish they did a Palace Brawl one. I'd probably watch that a good 10 times at least.

The statistic at the end about how the homicide rate has been cut in half since the Pablo Escobar and PEPEs era....Colombia still has the highest homicide rate in the world.  

Also, I really found it interesting to see all that Pablo Escobar did for the people of Colombia and that he was almost as big of a humanitarian as he was a criminal.

Is it bad that 99% of what I know about Pablo Escobar comes from Entourage?

I'll have to try to catch this one at some point though... sounds like everyone enjoyed it.

Mind boggling that Pablo controlled 80% of the world's cocaine market at one time, good for a cool $25 billion.

If you're interested, Bruce Porter's book "Blow: How A Small Town Boy Made $100 Million" is pretty good and details how George Jung ended up as a key part of the world cocaine market. The movie is a piece of crap, but the book is good.

They figured out that there were gaps in the radar coverage in between airports, so they could hop around to small landing fields and no one would track where they were coming from or going to. North Carolina was a major gap on the east coast. I was living in a town of 10,000 in eastern NC in 1983 when one of their planes ended up at our county airport with mechanical problems. Too bad for the pilots that it was loaded down with coke.

The son of the local sheriff rode my school bus and he couldn't stop crowing about his dad bringing down a drug kingpin (which is sort of like saying that the security guard who discovered the tape over the door jamb at the Watergate Hotel personally impeached Richard Nixon).

Sounds like you know a lot more about the whole real-life situation though, so I can see why you'd be disappointed with it -- I'm sure the movie just dramatizes everything and doesn't do the real story much justice.

If you liked the movie, you'll love the book.

Emmanuell Chriqui is another good reason to like "Entourage." And, BTW, this would be a good time to strongly recommend the movie "Women In Trouble." The movie should've been called "Women in their Underwear."

Chriqui plays a bi-sexual prostitute named Bambi who spends the entire movie in chaps and a thong.

I'm not a huge ESPN fan - I find that they play up the "E" part (Entertainment) a little too much -  but I did tune in out of curiosity.  Great film.  I do wonder if Andrés Escobar was truly as saintly as they depicted him, but regardless, it was really compelling.  I'm glad that they added at the end that Colombia has become a much safer country since the heyday of Pablo Escobar and the PEDEs - because for a while it was almost making me sympathetic to the cartels.  It's too bad that Colombian soccer can't get back off the ground, though.