Director gianfranco rosis lowgrade digital camera stops on the hairdryer, the headboard, the tv stand, before introducing the titular subject, an exhitman for a mexican drug cartel, standing in front of the hotel bathroom mirror adjusting the black shroud that hell wear over his head for. The word sicario originated in romangoverned palestine, and originally referred to the sicarii, a jewish sect known for using concealed daggers to slay ruling officials. Chuck bowen, slant magazine one who knows speaks and well. Bowden wrote the original story about the sicario hit man and coproduced the documentary with director gianfranco rosi.
To book classes museums comedy dance city guide neighborhoods magazine sweepstakes venue rental. Room 164 is a oneman monologue of a documentary, 80odd minutes spent in a crummy motel suite in the company of a guy with a black mesh cloth covering his head and obscuring his identity. The autobiography of a mexican assassin, coedited with molly molloy. Room 164, in which the author and a translator are given a firsthand account of what its like to be a hitman in one of the most narcotics ridden countries in the world. This documentary from director gianfranco rosi visits one of the most notorious of all contemporary sicario. Some strides have been made against the cartels by the mexican government the past couple of. But the man shows more than a little pride in his professionalism as. Aided only by a magic marker and notepad, which he uses to illustrate and diagram his words, the sicario describes, in astounding detail, his life of crime, murder, abduction and torture. In a motel room in or around ciudad juarez, a man in a black veil sits down to spill his guts. Ce film est base sur larticle the sicario ecrit par charles bowden et publie dans harpers magazine en 2009. Mexico border, where the sicario used to break down victims before passing them over to the cartel. Room 164, in which the author and a translator are given a firsthand account of what its like to be a hitman in one of the most narcotics ridden countries in.
The motel room, we later find out, was conveniently picked by the sicario because it was the former stage for torture and murder. Though he is never identified for obvious reasons, this purports to be the story of this individuals role as a killer and long association with a mexican drug cartel before he escaped and found religion. Gianfranco rosi and charles bowden on murder in mexico. We see views of the inside of an ordinary travelers hotel room. The term sicario goes back to roman palestine, where a jewish sect, the sicarii, used concealed daggers sicae in their murders of romans and their supporters. Recently, hollywood soapbox talked with charles bowden, the awardwinning journalist and author of several books about the mexican drug business. Dec 20, 2011 this rigidity is matched by the movies one setting, room 164 in a motel somewhere near the u.
Dec 29, 2011 the motel room, we later find out, was conveniently picked by the sicario because it was the former stage for torture and murder. A highend enforcer, or sicario, for a mexican cartel, he was recruited from at an early age, entered into the police academy for training, then positioned to. Editors molloy research librariannew mexico state univ. Sicario, room 164 available in dvd ship this item qualifies for free shipping buy online, pick up in store is currently unavailable, but this item may be available for instore purchase. While the editors offer the necessary frontmatter and. They not only imagine his crimes but they also extrapolate from his information. Variety one of the most revealing and shocking documentaries ever made about the drug trade. In modern language, a sicario is a professional killer or a hit man. The first is the sicarios masked face, an impassive blank slate matched by a subdued voice, flatly conveying stories of casual cruelty. Nov 03, 2010 the term sicario goes back to roman palestine, where a jewish sect, the sicarii, used concealed daggers sicae in their murders of romans and their supporters. A reformed assassins tellall of the horrors endured and executed throughout his years in the mexican drug trade.
Ciudad juarez and the global economys new killing fields by charles bowden. He is a contract killer who functioned as a commandante in the chihuahuan state police, who was trained in the us by the fbi, and who for twenty years kidnapped, tortured and murdered people for the drug industry at the behest of mexican drug cartels. A hit man who killed hundreds of people was for many years a police officer. Filmmakers discuss the tremendous impact of francois truffauts 1966 book hitchcocktruffaut, in which alfred hitchcock. Room 164 is an almost laughably simple, aggressively drablooking film, but it packs a wallop. I would not recommend it to anyone with a low threshold for reality. Il protagonista ha ucciso centinaia di persone, e esperto in torture e rapimenti, ha lavorato per molti anni come comandante della polizia statale del chihuahua ed e stato perfino addestrato dallfbi.
A subject really has to have something to say to justify this kind of film treatmentmichael rupperts hypnotic apocalyptic scenarios in collapse come to mindand the unnamed focus of. Il est inspire par larticle the sicario, a juarez hit man. Max goldberg, mubi proves that a static interview in a confined space has the potential to be just as cinematic as any hightech hollywood product. The autobiography of a mexican assassin graphically illustrates the violence that has seized that nation. While the unnamed subject drapes his head in black mesh cloth if anything, a more menacing device than obscuring shadow, hes allowed to speak in his own voice. An expert in torture and kidnapping, he was employed by mexican. He has killed hundreds of people, is an expert in torture and kidnapping, and for many years was a commander of the state police in chihuahua. In a nondescript hotel room, a man, his face shrouded by a black hood, matteroffactly describes his life and career as a hitman for a mexican drug cartel. The story of a hitman for the drug cartels in ciudad juarez, mexico. Though he is never identified for obvious reasons, this purports to be the story of this individuals role as a killer and long association with a mexican drug. The stories he spinsof crime, corruption, torture, and murderare chilling evocations of evil, but its impossible to look away.
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