Thursday, October 18, 2018

Scarface

Scarface is one of the most famous movies from the 1980's era. The movie was directed by Brian De Palma and was very successful and was nominated for multiple awards and grossing a 65.9 million dollar box office revenue. Scarface was nominated for best actor, best original score and also best supporting actor. The plot focuses on Tony Montana (Al Pacino) who after getting a green card in exchange for assassinating a Cuban government official. Montana  deliberately chooses the drug life because he wants to be rich rather than poor and be pure. Montana wants to take over the drug trade and be the king. Montana wouldn’t let anyone stand in his way, killing anyone who challenged him without hesitation. He eventually works his way up and becomes the biggest drug lord in the state. Montana ends up controlling all the cocaine that comes into Miami. Montana’s downfall is fueled by the police hunting him down, issues with the cartel in Columbia, and his own paranoia. Pacino’s portrayal of Montana is praised to be one of the most famous and influential villains in film.

In my opinion Montana is an excellent example of Hollywood’s badass, the three main examples of this are his restaurant rant, his battle with his sister, and his battle with loneliness. In particular the scene where the drunk and drugged Tony Montana bad mouths everyone in the restaurant leaving himself with a realization. In life people need someone to make themselves feel better and look down upon. Montana states that the only reason people dislike him is because they could never live up to Montana and be like him. Tony knows how bad he has become and knows how everyone else portrays him to be. After he comes out of jail Montana meets up with sister to make up time they had lost while he was in jail. We see a side of Montana that is very interesting, Montana has nothing left in his life so he becomes very protective of the one thing he has left which is his sister. When his sister is shot and killed at the end of the movie we can start to see his downfall. Montana is left with nothing and seemingly accepts this loneliness. Alejandro Sosa who was another big drug dealer didn’t love how Tony was acting, so he sent some of his men to kill Montana. This scene becomes famous for Montana’s quote “Say hello to my little friend”, Montana’s “little friend” was his gun and he kills most of Sosa’s men. Tony thinks he won the battle but more men keep coming into the house, and his life comes to an end when he gets shot in the back by a double barreled shotgun. Pacino’s role in the movie has lived on to generations past it release date because it was relatable to people watching. Montana chase for the American Dream gets himself everything he ever wanted but he ended up lonely and sad. Since Pacino’s role in the movie was amazing to watch I would rate this film GOOD GOOD.  

1 comment:

  1. Lots of good ideas in this blog post, Matt! You have so many specific pieces of evidence from the film, and your understanding of the character's choices and narrative development are very clear in your review. Consider how organization can help to shape some of the focus in the review. For example, the first paragraph should be an objective evaluation. Yours is objective, and the opening details about the film's objective measures of success (e.g. awards and money) are clear. From that point, you start to slip into neutrality in your plot summary. Remember that objective can (and should) still be evaluative. How can you tell us about the plot in a way that makes it clear that these are good choices for the movie to make? Your second paragraph actually gives more objective evaluation than subjective: you zoom in on specific scenes and character choices, both of which are considered part of the object itself. A subjective response should focus more on you and your experience as a viewer. I almost wish you had used your second paragraph as your first paragraph and then written more about your opinions or experiences watching the film yourself. Normally the objective part is what students struggle with the most, and that's where you're in good shape. Just make sure to put some more of YOU in the subjective piece next time. Title should also give us a sense of your argument.

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