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New NarcoDrama: En La Boca del Lobo

Monday night, Unimas began airing the Colombian narcodrama "En La Boca del Lobo" (In the Mouth of the Wolf.) It's the story of the guy who took down the Cali Cartel in Colombia and is based on the book with the same name, written by Cali cartel journalist William C. Rempel.

Ricardo is known as Richard in the world of the mafia and became Chief of security of one of the kingpins of the Cali Cartel. After the death of his best friend and his family, Ricardo has nothing more to lose. In search of redemption in a very corrupt world, he is willing to give the Cali Cartel to the CIA. But when the operation fails, Ricardo is seen 'in the mouth of the Wolf' and must fight for their survival, "reads a statement from the chain.

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Carolina Acevedo plays the female protagonist, Lena Duke, who falls in love with Ricardo. Lucho Velasco, Julián Mora, Isabel Gaona, Patricia Tamayo and Bruno Díaz round out the cast.
The series was produced by Sony Pictures Television.

It will air 5 nights a week for a few months. If you subscribe to almost any cable service besides Comcast, you can view it on your computer at UVideos. If you have Comcast, you will only be able to get Spanish subtitles. Solution: An indoor antenna, which runs through your TV, not cable box. You can then get real time English captions. And a better picture.

It's also free, even if you have any cable. Unimas, a subsidiary of Univision, airs almost everywhere.

Since I only watched 10 minutes tonight, I don't know if it will be as good as Pablo Escobar, Patron del Mal, El Capo (1, 2, or 3), La Reina del Sur, or Senor de los Cielos I, 2 and 3, about Amado Carillo Fuentes, Lord of the Skies.)

The characters are real, but they use different names. I end up wanting to know who's who, since so many have had court cases in the U.S., and it's interesting to read the real stories in court pleadings or books.

It's hard to go back to American TV after watching these. Because they air a new segment 5 nites a week, you get very invested in the characters, and there's a lot of action and plot twists. They don't glamorize the traffickers, and they show their flaws, but they also humanize them. The cops don't get such a good portrayal (Nor should they, given the rampant corruption down in Colombia.)

American TV has really dumbed down the past few years. So many shows should have been given a pink slip instead of left to die a slow death: Survivor, Amazing Race, the Voice, and so many more. About the only one I watch any more is Homeland. So give it a try and let me know what you think. You can get an antenna for under $25.

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  • Display: Sort:
    Glamorize vs. Humanize (5.00 / 2) (#1)
    by Dadler on Wed Nov 12, 2014 at 03:18:39 PM EST
    TV automatically glamorizes, that is a given. And "humanizing" in the fictional sense is just  as manipulative. People who join psychopathic organizations have ceded major parts of their humanity. That's the only way you go about actively abetting mass murder and human suffering. Same for corrupt governmental orgs that engage in much the same conduct. To be more clear, they cease to be capable of things like love. And when a show attempts to present them as doing so, it is lying. There is no love in a socipath, only a need to control, and if PRETENDING to be mostly human you that, voila, it seems like, wow, the guy who lops off strangers' heads really CAN love someone. Um, no, he can't. If he could, he doesn't lop off heads, Period. And if he cries because his love got killed, guess what? He's not crying out of emotion or lost love, but because he's got no one to control like that anymore and has to start over finding another emotional victim. Real human psychology is too messy and disgusting for most people, storytellers or audience members. We crave propaganda, not truth.