So not so lately, couple of movies come out. In the end, these were meant to be morality movies. They start with perfectly normal guys with perfectly normal goals and lifestyles, who tap into something which ruins them. In both cases, their choices overcome them and destroy their family and future. I am, of course, talking about Blow and Lord of War.
However, I have a problem with both these movies. You’re not really supposed to admire either of these guys. In Blow, (Spoiler alert, I guess) George is disowned by his parents (mom at least), gets his wife addicted to cocaine, and entirely alienates his daughter. In Lord of War, Yuri similarly is disowned by his parents, gets his brother killed, and is disowned by his wife and therefore also daughter. These guys did not turn out for the better in the end.
But I want to be both these guys.
Think about it, man. What did these guys do? These guys did what every guy has ever wanted to do. George hung out with Pablo Fucking Escobar! You know what that guy did? Co-opted a country! Yuri, on the other hand, got sent strippers by Charles Taylor, aka André! He has planes, guns, and gets laid by two chicks in camo bikinis! I mean hot shit man! Who wouldn’t want to be these guys?!
Of course, in the end, the bad stuff happens. But there raises the existential question: given a choice of living a life where nothing bad happens, if it means nothing really good happens, either, or living a life where extreme highs are matched with crushing lows, which would you choose?
If I lived their lives, I could die a happy man. ‘Cause in the end, don’t we all want our life to make a really awesome movie?
