Snow Dramas

Who doesn't enjoy a good drug trade drama?

Since the inception of harsher regulation and different tactics in the War on Drugs since 1971, an amazing amount of historical data has been created. As we sift through this information, it has not been difficult to romanticize and dramatize some of these stories for our entertainment. While there are themes that evoke a sense of winning the lottery with respect to participation in the illegal drug markets, this modern history is also quite bloody. There have been thousands of lives lost to the War on Drugs, this fact is not skipped in any good drug trade drama.

So have you seen Narcos?

If not, you should.

There are three full Seasons of Narcos which have streamed on Netflix since 2015. This snow drama depicts the harrowing tale of Pablo Escobar and the rise of the Colombian cocaine industry.

This story is told through the lens of an American DEA agent. Set in a time when pressure from the American Government to combat and suppress cocaine trafficking, intersects with the birth of large operation cocaine production and trafficking in Colombia.

Who hasn't enjoyed a viewing of Scarface once or twice in life? Snow dramas generally keep viewers on the edge of their seats.

Narcos gives an attractive rags to riches story-line, that romanticizes the rise of cocaine as an illicit street drug, while the means of covert cocaine production grows in the rainforests of Colombia.

The story winds all the way through the remainder of Escobar's life and ends somewhere in 1992.

The show is a must watch for those who enjoy modern South, Central and North American history and the inventive re-imagining of these stories.

If you have already watched Narcos and loved it, then get ready to press play on Maria Full of Grace.

Released in 2004, Maria Full of Grace is a film that puts an even more modern take on the Colombian cocaine industry. The film is currently available on HBOMax streaming services. This movie is filmed from the perspectives of Maria a drug mule from Bogota and her best friend Blanca.

Maria Full of Grace, gives an eye opening viewpoint into the less than savory means of transport for Cocaine from South America, North into the United States. Where Narcos focuses on the players at the top of the production chain decades earlier, Maria Full of Grace depicts the desperation and tumultuous lifestyle for those who are willing to use their very own bodies to transport the drugs over borders for a chance at a new life, in the post-Escobar drug world.

Narcos was created in 2015 and set in the 70's 80's and 90's; the story-line of Maria Full of Grace is set in the post 9/11 world of 2004.

The black market handling of cocaine production and transport has changed over the course of time since Pablo Escobar's original exploits of lore. Long gone are the many chartered boats and planes, as well as the unmarked trucks once used to shuttle copious amounts of cocaine and other contraband into the United States in favor of new and innovative ways of smuggling.

Maria Full of Grace, gives insight into modern drug policy as it relates to illicit drug trafficking and the risks involved for those who are not on the top. Mules and foot soldiers are cogs in a greater machine. It is these people who take the largest risks for the smallest rewards.

What's more is that after having watched Narcos and moved on to Maria Full of Grace, the voice also changes from an American man's to a South American woman's.

When this change of voice and perspective happens it is easy to see how South American women are and have been frequently exploited for the movement of drugs over borders, for various reasons ranging from extreme poverty, to diverted suspicion based on a woman's physicality. Women in this depiction in the early 2000's were still considered to be more likely to succeed in the trafficking of illicit drugs over borders. Maria Full of Grace highlights the desire of the cartels to convert over to young female mules as they strive to successfully move cocaine from South to North without detection.

Overall, if you are looking for a deep and dark look into the mechanics of the counter culture through a good snow drama, Maria Full of Grace offers that.

Don't worry if you have just hit play on the last episode of Narcos, then Maria Full of Grace is there for you next.