Cocaine Cowboys [2006]
Director: Billy Corben
Score: Jan Hammer
This is a really great, very comprehensive documentary on the rise and fall of the cocaine-trade in south Florida. It’s very stylishly done, with interviews, footage and images, all set – probably not coincidentally – against soundtrack done by Jan Hammer. The primary people interviewed are two smugglers, who were there from start to finish, and the prime enforcer for Griselda Blanco, the Cocaine Queen of Miami. There were also interviews of prominent law-enforcers en reporters of the time. It gives you a complete view of the impact that the cocaine trade had on southern Florida, its economy, the mindset and behaviour of the people, as well as the development of organised crime in the United States and South America.
It’s long (close to two hours), but if you’re interested in stuff like this, it’s well worth it.