The Two Escobars

I’d say The Two Escobars is the best documentary film I’ve watched. I have our Sports and Society professor to thank for because this is our recommended film of week 1 in the class. And I regret that I didn’t watch it right away. Well, better late than never.

I’m a Football fan and I love this beautiful game in its raw form, meaning just plain Football. I prefer to watch Football games live in person than on television. It just feels so different being off the pitch or in the stadium seeing the players move around, defend, and score goals.

As I watched The Two Escobars, with the rise and fall of Colombian Football and how it dragged the Colombian society along with it, I can’t help but feel terribly sorry. I looked at the Philippines but we didn’t have those violence. There was politics but it didn’t lead to the gruesome violence Colombia experienced. And I’m thankful that we didn’t experience such. All the violence, “on” and off the pitch was just too much to bear.

So who are these Escobars? Were they related? Well, I haven’t heard of them before. Awful, right? I actually haven’t heard of anyone from the Colombia National Football Team except for Rene Higuita. I’ve heard about El Loco through Saigo no Yakusoku (The Last Promise), a Japanese drama special.

Before we talk about the Football player, let’s talk about the man behind Colombia’s Football first. Behold, “El Don Vito” de Colombia, Pablo Escobar..

As I listened to the accounts of the people who knew Pablo, I can’t help but be amazed. He practically ran the whole country, on grassroots level. And for what he did, one would probably stand by Machiavelli. The end justifies the means. It was like the Corleones. I don’t want to write my opinion about Pablo any further. Besides, I don’t really have a strong one. Just watch the film and have your own.

El Caballero del Futbol. This was the nickname given to the other Escobar who changed Colombian Football.

Andres Escobar was also the captain of the Colombia National Football Team. He played defense. If you know him, you’re probably aware of what happened during the 1994 World Cup in US. It was a horrible experience, everything on and off the pitch. For a national team captain to experience them all, during a World Cup Qualifier, was… I can’t think of the right word, as someone who wasn’t there and didn’t personally experience what they did.

It was amazing though how Andres kept his composure. Colombia was lucky to have him as their captain. The things said of him were equally impressive, especially for such a young age during those times. And I admire how dedicated he was to give back to the community.

The term “Narco-Terrorism” was coined during the ‘reign’ of Pablo Escobar. If you don’t usually see things connected with one another, you might just dismiss this as an isolated society issue. But Colombia proved how much inter-related society issues are with one another, Football included.

But this inter-connection was a sad one. There were “glorious” times, when Pablo was still “ruling” but when his era had come to an end, Colombia’s Football and society followed. As the film showed accounts of the latter, I was shocked. Not that I was surprised with the violence, but more of “How could such thing happen?” It was like Colombia’s society was ready to collapse anytime, it just happened that Pablo Escobar knew how to kept that from happening (soon).

But then, like what their national team manager Francisco Maturana said, “Any society built on a defective foundation is destined to collapse.” I feel sad with what happened to Colombia, especially to their national team. I hope they’d rise again, with new players like Escobar, Valderrama, Higuita and the others to rise.

Besides, who doesn’t want to witness a Scorpion Kick?

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Originally posted on: 10 May 2013
Reblogged on: 3 August 2013