Pablo’s Hippos (Antonio von Hildebrand, Lawrence Elman, 2010): UK, Colombia

Reviewed by Cody Christianson. Viewed at the Santa Barbara Film Festival 2011

The film Pablo’s Hippos was a documentary about the drug baron, Pablo Escobar. It was directed by Antonio von Hildebrand, and Lawrence Elman and shot in Colombia. It was produced by Amber Entertainment / Drive Thru Pictures, Amber Entertainment, Drive Thru Pictures. The languages spoken wereEnglish, and Spanish. It was rated ‘R’ because of the language and violence. The main characters in this film are Pablo Escobar, who it is hard to believe actually existed, his family, his hippos, and his drug cartel.

The conflict of the film was that the Pablo Escobar, who once was just a Drug Baron, became part of Colombia’s government, and he ran the Country to the ground. Being the biggest baddest drug baron of his time, all of Colombia was in an Economic Crisis. Although he didn’t start out as a corrupt government official, he began by getting his supporters by building soccer stadiums, Churches, and giving out loads of cash to people on the street. This film shows the life and death of Pablo Escobar, from the Hippo’s point of view. This film will inform you on how Pablo Escobar came to power, It is has a lot of violence and is not recommended for children. After a presidential candidate, Escobar turned himself in, on a few of his conditions, such as he could build his own jail, which not many people knew was much like a five-star hotel, and that he could do anything as he pleased, killing anyone who needed to be killed, and he even was able to leave whenever he wanted.

The director’s goal was to show us how Pablo Escobar came to power, where he failed to stay, and how he became corrupt. This film show all that plus more, like how Pablo Escobar lived, whilst in jail. My overall rating was 7 out of 10, because it was a very interesting story, with great action, and a great storyline.