From PASTO, COLOMBIA-Via: L. A. CA; CALI, COLOMBIA ORLANDO, FL -------------------The ONLY Tony Kiss Castillo on FaceBook!---------------

For my sophomore college English class, I did a paper on Stanley Kubrick's "2001". SUMAS y RESTAS, really deserves one of its own. After living in Colombia for a total of 28 years and having had three close brushes with death, the only way to review this is with some brief insight into the dynamics of crime and violence in Colombia...

Most Colombians either ...

A) Have been DIRECT victims of violence themselves....or

B) Have family members, relatives /or close friends who've been victims.

EVERYONE ELSE has friends, neighbors, classmates and/or co-workers who have experienced violence directly. Undoubtedly, it has ebbed from its peak in the 80's and 90's, but it's still an everyday fact of life people have learned to live with.

One factor, only dealt with rather obliquely in the film, is that violence can originate from many different sources; organized crime, leftist guerrillas, paramilitary groups, common criminals, corrupt police officials or any one of the above, masquerading as any one of the others! The kidnappers in the film identify themselves as F-2 agents (Think: DEA), but their true origin is never revealed. More often than not, this is the sad reality of Colombia.

Still, for the record, at least 97% or 98% of Colombians never collaborate or participate, in any way, with any of these factions! A bit uneven during its first 40 minutes, "Medellin" had me mesmerized its last hour.

I'm sad to admit, this was a gritty, spot-on slice of the dark side of Colombian life. The non-stop profanity is not translated in the English subtitles...The reason: Movies are usually translated by people officially licensed by the Colombian government, so they end up changing "Scarface" into "Paleface". But the sociopaths like the ones in SUMAS are known for incessant obscenity; it's unfortunate this was lost in translation.

The ending minute(?)was butchered/redacted or oddly altered in some way, causing me to lower my rating from 9* to just 8* STARS...

WARNING: Lots of naked, gyrating Colombian ladies!... ENJOY!/DISFRUTELA!

Any comments, questions or observations, in English o en Español, are most welcome!

Medellin: Sumas y Restas is a realistic portrayal of Medellin in the 1980s and how involvement in the drug trade has its ups and downs so to speak, which can happen rather quickly.

Santiago is a construction engineer is at a party on his farm house with some friends, one of whom is making tons of money in the drug trade, but who he's also a user, and the excesses of use become obvious quickly. Santiago is initially reluctant to use cocaine but eventually gives in. Somewhat short on money to complete his construction projects he is introduced to various characters who are rich and offer quick payment in cash or coke. Again, he tries to stay away from those sorts of people. At some point he is introduced to Gerardo, an owner of a car mechanic shop, who is looking to build something on his large lot. He immediately pays Santiago what he asks to begin the project.

Eventually Santiago, the educated well-spoken bourgeois becomes more involved with Gerardo, the uneducated and foul-mouthed peasant, who in the past was a drug cook but now is his own major cocaine producer. Gerardo asks Santiago to introduce him to some higher class customer who might have a need for large amounts of coke. Santiago does so, introducing him to his cousin who brings in raw material from Peru and exports drugs to Miami. The deal ends up sour provoking the unraveling of the story and of the relationship of our two characters.

The script is completely written in the colloquial language of Medellin, which is a much sweeter sounding Spanish than the rough Mexican, Argentinian, or even from Spain. The English subtitles are of big help, because even if one understands Spanish, some of the terms are specific to the business. Here of course, profanities abound and some turns of phrases are very original and funny. A scene of Gerardo getting in a shouting match with Santiago's cousin is absolutely hilarious.

Throughout the movie some of the ugly realities, of life in Colombia in the past are represented: kidnappings for ransom, shooting sprees in bars, law enforcement corruption, etc.

The acting is good for the most part, the story interesting, the sound professionally done, the script most importantly is excellent and it calls mainly for realism. You'll meet people speaking the way they would at parties, under the influence, when angry, etc. One feature that you never see in American movies but that adds to the realism is people talking at once. That is a challenge and caused some problems when it was re-recorded. There are some lapses in sound / lip movements synchronization. But other than that, this is an excellent production. One oddity is the ending of the US DVD. There is a final shot of buildings that lasts less than a second, as if there is more but it was arbitrarily decided that this would be the ending. Not sure if this is the case with international versions.

If you want to see a different kind of movie dealing with the realities of the drug business in the countries where drugs come from. I highly recommend this movie. It has some exciting, thrilling, funny, sad, interesting moments that as a whole make for an enjoyable and entertaining experience.

Some times I heard negative comments about this movie. People who dislike it, argue that we have already seen lots of histories like this one before. And it might be true, but it is exactly what gives me a point of reference to judge this production objectively.

Many things have been said about drug trafficking, but I have never seen a closest approach to the essence and the beginning of the problem. An extraordinary representation of Medellín in the 80's, whit every little detail. Once more, Gaviria leads whit natural actors, obtaining great results on the interpretation of this complicated roles that in my opinion can not really be played by professional or foreign actors, as we could see what recently happened whit Unax Ugalde in Rosario Tijeras.

If you think you know every thing about drug dealing, or if you are Colombian and think that it is a distant problem, or you think it is not your problem, why don't you take a look at this really interesting movie, and by the way give a little support to Víctor Gaviria, that after almost three years whit many budget problems, could finish in great way whit this film.