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| Andres Parra as Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar |
Almost two decades after he was gunned down on a Medellín rooftop, Colombia’s most notorious villain is being resurrected in the US and will premiere on Telemundo this evening, July 9. Colombia’s Caracol TV has been airing the new series, Pablo Escobar: The Boss of Evil (Escobar, el patrón del mal), to record-breaking audiences since May 28.
Based on the book La Parabola de Pablo by Alonso Salazar, the series (partially filmed in Miami) traces Escobar’s rise from small-time thug and cigarette trafficker to becoming one of the richest and most powerful men in the Southern Hemisphere — winning a seat in Congress and famously offering to pay off Colombia’s foreign debt to avoid extradition to the United States. Although he built thousands of homes for Medellín’s poor — which made him a Robin Hood figure to many, Esocobar tortured, kidnapped and maimed those who got in his way and is said to be linked to some 5,000 murders.
The new series follows on the heels MIFF 2010’s DOX Competition award winner, Sins of My Father (Pecados de mi padre), where director Nicolas Entel captures the powerful and historic moment when Pablo Escobar’s eldest son finally comes forward to tell his father’s story.
