Sicario

Sicario, a border film directed by Denis Villeneuve clearly portrays the most popular views, stereotypes, and known realities of southern the U.S.-Mexico border or perhaps only the most acknowledged one: a reality of extreme gun-violence, insecurity, and drug cartels controlling every aspect of the area’s politics and society. The shown illegal and unrestrained drug trade in Ciudad Juarez encourages actions driven by the fear of its possible expansion up to U.S. territory.

One of the most engaging themes present throughout the movie is the constant comparison between North and South which is mainly focused on security. The perception of the United States as a safe place versus a dangerous Mexico appears from beginning to end. It is precisely this deep perception of a generally violence-free America that initiates a war on drugs looking South, where the existence of a Sicario seems to be more possible than one working with or for the United States.

In a collaboration to capture Manuel Diaz, leader of the Sonora Cartel, the FBI agent Kate Macer is sent to El Paso and is forced to participate in an illegitimate operation on Mexican soil. When she tries to oppose the intervention which for her is not part of their jurisdiction, her superior, Matt, accepts the invasive nature of their actions, but simultaneously justifies them for being an attempt to reach a higher end, which is eliminating the Cartel´s leadership once and for all. Additionally, the explanatory discourse of Matt intentionally creates an alarming uncertainty about who should be trusted once Kate crosses the border. Surrounded by an atmosphere of plenty insecurity, Kate explicitly shows her fear towards anyone who is not a U.S. citizen or who does not look like one. The mysterious appearance of the Colombian agent Alejandro is an example of that constructed perception concerning Latin Americans.

Once in Mexico, the warnings that were given by Matt, the sounds of gunfire, and the images of cruel crimes intensify feelings of insecurity, stopping Kate from contributing in the killings of drug trade suspects crossing the border South-to-North. Moreover, numerous visual comparisons appear as the plot moves between the two countries. Crossing the border, an uncountable number of cars and buses full of Mexican people travel north to the U.S, including armed drug traders and gangsters, while the road going South is shown almost empty. At night from the safe and quiet United States, Kate is taken to see the “fireworks”, shooting and bombing flashes that just like fireworks one can fearlessly contemplate from home. As the secret operation continues, Kate realizes that there is actual opportunity to catch the Mexican Cartel leader in Texas, however, her superiors prefer to push the danger to the Mexican side of the border. Arresting the drug dealer or investigating its banking transactions in the U.S. could only create airs of insecurity, so it is better to solve the problem where everyone is used to see violence of that scale.

Although dubious about the credibility of the limited information provided and the legitimacy of the plan to destroy the drug cartel in Mexico, Kate again chooses to continue engaged because of the possibility to prevent future crimes. Surprisingly for her, the paradoxical strategy of using another Latin American Cartel leader to combat the closest one to the U.S. confirms her initial reaction concerning Alejandro. “We cannot trust him, he is not American” Kate had said before discovering that indeed he was equally dangerous than the Mexicans. After discovering the reasons for Alejandro’s participation in the operation, neither Americans nor Latin Americans are to be trusted anymore. But there is one more characteristic that is opposite between the Latino and the American: the motivations driving each one to act and how these are used for the benefit of the collective.

Previously in Robert Rodriguez’s Once Upon A Time in Mexico the craving for revenge after the lives of loved ones are taken was already included as an essential motif of the plot. In the same way, in this movie, the leaders of the U.S operation use the only reliable sentiment among Latin Americans that could make a Cartel assassin collaborate with them, vengeance.

The conservative construction of security at the north of the Rio Bravo dominates most of the plot and wins over any moral questioning. The message of this movie moves towards American exceptionalism and the creation of imaginaries of invasive migration in support of geopolitical strategies to protect national interests. The way Latin America is portrayed in this production implicitly suggest few solutions for the immigration problem including stronger immigration laws, stronger border control, and liberties only for those born within its borders.