SICARIO IS TRANSLATED AS “HITMAN”
The secret “drug war” is featured in Sicario. Although audiences learn how to translate “sicario” into English through opening titles, they do not learn the identity or motivation of the hitman until the end of the film. When the action begins, FBI agent Kate Macer (played by Emily Blunt)assigned to kidnapping cases, is involved in a horrific discovery in Chandler, Arizona, near the Mexican border. Matt Graver (Josh Brolin), a CIA official wearing flipflops and jeans, observes her during the debriefing on the case and then recruits her to join a “task force” in the escalating war against drugs. Capture and interrogation of illegals, discovery of a tunnel, and the transfer of a captured suspect from México to the United States are accompanied by foreboding bass music as if important in that war. But the point of the film, directed by Denis Villeneuve, appears to be to demonstrate the excesses of that war through the Kate’s eyes, as she is upset that the CIA is doing what the FBI cannot—engage in torture and otherwise mistreat suspects while spending millions. Those selected for torture have children and wives, thus can be threatened with violence toward their loved ones. Kate is later informed that she is merely a prop: She has been recruited because the CIA cannot operate within the United States unless the FBI is part of that task force, consisting of dozens of men who appear sloppy and unprofessional. She also learns that the aim of the operation is to eliminate rival drug gangs, consistent with the approach taken in Colombia—create order by leaving just one gang in charge. During the operation she meets Alejandro aka Medellín (Benicio Del Toro), the hitman, whose role appears irrelevant to the main plot, which is an exposé masquerading as an action film in which most characters whisper at an almost inaudible level to create the impression that they are engaging in a secret operation. Stephen Soderberg’s Traffic (2000), in contrast, seems a picnic. MH