Movie Review: Broad Green Pictures' The Infiltrator

The Infiltrator

Director: Brad FurmanWriters: Ellen Brown Furman, based on Robert Mazur’s biography
Starring: Bryan Cranston, Diane Kruger, John Leguizamo, Benjamin Bratt, Yul Vazquez, Amy Ryan
Rated: Rated R for strong violence, language throughout, some sexual content and drug material
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Hashtag: #TheInfiltrator

Based on a true story, Federal agent ROBERT “BOB” MAZUR (Bryan Cranston) goes deep undercover to infiltrate Pablo Escobar’s drug trafficking scene plaguing the nation in 1986 by posing as slick, money-laundering businessman Bob Musella. Teamed with impulsive and streetwise fellow agent EMIR ABREU (John Leguizamo) and rookie agent posing as his fiancé KATHY ERTZ (Diane Kruger), Mazur befriends Escobar’s top lieutenant ROBERTO ALCAINO (Benjamin Bratt). Navigating a vicious criminal network in which the slightest slip-up could cost him his life, Mazur risks it all building a case that leads to indictments of 85 drug lords and the corrupt bankers who cleaned their dirty money, along with the collapse of the Bank of Credit and Commerce International, one of the largest money-laundering banks in the world.

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This was a very interesting movie in more ways than one, but mostly it was interesting to me because of the psychological part.

The Infiltrator is based on the biography written by Robert Mazur, who is also the main character in the movie. He wrote the book after his experience in being a secret agent that helped bust the money-laundry business that the super famous drug lord Pablo Escobar had. Mazur used the name Bob Musella as his alias to infiltrate their business. He becomes a trusted confidant of one of the main men of Escobar, which is how he was able to do what he ended up doing to bust them all.

This was a movie I really liked because I find it so incredibly interesting everything he had to go through, especially psychologically. You see how he is a very experienced agent, but he probably hadn’t been as involved with that drug and money-laundering world. There are some scenes in which some really horrible things happen and you can see the shock and horror on his face from what he just witnessed. There are other scenes in which you can tell the psychological and emotional toll all of this is taking on him.

My favorite character though, was Kathy because she played the roll of Robert’s “fiancée” and she did such a great job at being a secret agent too. In a few occasions, she saved his behind and she was a big help on the planning of how to capture all the big dogs of the money-laundry business.

The acting in this movie was very good! Especially Bryan Cranston –whom I absolutely love as an actor because he is superb! I especially love him as a comedy actor, but that’s besides the point right now. But, all of them really did a great job and some of them look very much like the characters they play (at the end of the movie, during the credits, they show the actor and next to them the picture of the person they played.

This movie is not for everyone because of the gore in some of the movies, especially when you know these things happened for real in the 80s and that someone (Robert Mazur) and that he had to endure that double life and even risk his family (wife and 2 kids) for this mission. But, at the same time, it’s a way to learn more what these agents go through and how they risk their lives for the greater good. I, personally, really liked it and thought the filming and directing of it was very good. It keeps you intrigued and wanting to see more.

The only thing I did not really like was that there are some things they don’t explain, because it all seems like it happens in a spam of 1-2 weeks but, of course, that’s impossible. They don’t explain that much what it is they did to gain that much trust of the drug and money-laundry lords because it seems like they become friends one day and the next they’re being called family.

In summary, I really like this movie and would recommend it if you are into these kinds of movies. It doesn’t have many action scenes, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t interesting. Go see it and find out a little bit more about what happened and how Pablo Escobar was caught!