Toying with the Pablo Escobar story

Already a few thing you probably don’t know about the man who became the world’s richest drug lord.

His family was almost slaughtered by militia when he was a child. At university he studied international law and wanted become the president of Columbia. And he wanted to make a million dollars before he’d even seen a dollar.

The world saw him as a scourge, he saw himself as a man for the people. Among Columbia’s poor he initiated one social reform program after the other. He did more for the poor than any politician.

Yes, conflicting needs. Yes, we need empathic scenes without completely relying on backstory. (How else do we fill in the motivation? Another character? His younger brother? Dialogue? Action? Clue?)

Escobar loved talking the talk. Loved talking on the phone. Called his mother every day. Ultimately it was the death of him.

He was supposed to be keeping low in a safe house deep in the impenetrable Medellin slums. Instead he clambered on the roof with his new satellite phone to get better reception.

That’s when security forces where able to triangulate the signal, nail his position.

All the sniper had to do was pull the trigger.