In 2015, Denis Villeneuve released a film that continued to develop his filmmaking
themes and style, only showing more evidence towards how consistent of a director he is.
Sicario, starring Emily Blunt, Benicio Del Toro and Josh Brolin has many great things about it,
from the great performances to the emotional context of the story,
to the use of colour and filmmaking mise en scene. But what interests me the most
is how the director uses the war on drugs as a backdrop to pose questions about morality. In this
video, I'm going to be giving you my thoughts on Sicario, exploring how Denis Villeneuve
questions morality and how this focus keeps us compelled with the characters that are
at the centre of the story. This video essay continues my Road to Dune series,
where I create content on all of the dune adaptations, Frank Herbert's original novel, Denis
Villeneuve's filmography and his upcoming 2021 film. During the build-up,
I will also be covering any news and information surrounding the director's latest project.
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But without further ado, let's dive into Denis Villeneuve's Sicario.
So war stories usually turn out to be tellings of heroism,
showing us the events of brave soldiers who fight in the pursuit of a righteous cause,
whether it involves taking down tyrants, stopping invasions, or protecting people
from threatening regimes. We all know that war is ugly, but sometimes it’s necessary,
and most of the time, there’s at least one force with a justifiable reason for killing.
The battle between good and evil is of course a common theme in these war stories because there
are heroes and villains, and the good guys tend to keep to ethical standards. But as we all know
realistically, war is more complex than just a simplistic notion, and sometimes the cost of
victory comes at the expense of what’s moral or redeemable.
Denis Villeneuve‘s Sicario uses the War on Drugs as a backdrop to pose such questions
about morality. To begin with, the story setup is very traditional with a cop named
Kate, played by Emily Blunt, accepting an assignment to take down a cartel’s drug empire,
only to realize that her fellow agents don’t play by the rules of the book.
But maybe they’re justified in their actions, which we as the audience, like her character,
follow along with. And the team, which includes Matt, played by Josh Brolin, and
Alejandro, played by Benicio del Toro, are sent back and forth between the
United States and Mexico border on an illegal, covert mission. Protocol and
due process do not apply to this situation, and questionable acts are committed by the
agents to complete the mission. Unlike many other action-thrillers that include clear-cut heroes
and bad guys, Sicario takes a more nuanced approach by operating in a moral grey area
that’s as thought-provoking as it is tense. In this world, the cops are arguably just as
corrupt as the drug dealers, even though they seemingly commit cruel acts for a noble cause.
But when we meet Kate, she’s an honest cop who believes in doing things the right way,
even though seeing the horrible effects of the drug war makes her question her own set
of ideals and beliefs. Early on she discovers a house she knows belongs to the cartel
that is filled with bodies and with no way to legally prove it, she must keep it to
herself. Throughout the film though, her views change when she loses faith in the justice system
after realizing that the actions of her colleagues are more effective than following protocol.
Despite her calling for more change, she secretly knows that the dirty tactics yield results.
As Alejandro says to Kate before the mission, “Nothing will make sense to your American ears,
and you will doubt everything that we do, but in the end, you will understand”. And this concept
of morality versus immorality is highlighted throughout the events and also symbolic through
the film’s use of colour. Characters who wear blue are moralistic, those who wear black are corrupt,
while those who are in beige have a complex grey area. Kate’s gradual moral code manifests through
colour as well. In the beginning, when she’s still doing things by the book, she wears brighter blue
colours and as we progress through the movie, her costume becomes darker and more desaturated.
This is symbolic of her journey from a well-minded upcoming cop into a lacking, cynical operative.
By the end of the film, she’s willingly compromised her morals, but she understands the
necessity of their shady actions, just like Alejandro explained that she would.
But while the film explores these disturbing moral questions and portrays them honestly
in an ugly light, at points the agents’ actions feel justified. They’re thrust into a hellscape,
and the people they’re up against are responsible for crimes that are much worse than theirs.
Sicario essentially challenges us as viewers to confront our own morality and make up our
minds about what is right and wrong. If it's a victory, do the ends justify the means,
no matter how small in the War on Drugs? That’s up to the viewer to decide, but of course,
no matter how justified their cause may seem, it’s hard to root for the agents at play.
This is especially evident during the scene where Alejandro, fueled by a personal vendetta against
a drug kingpin who killed his wife and daughter, shoots his children
while they’re eating dinner. He gains nothing from it beyond personal satisfaction,
but his actions won’t fix anything that has been lost. In this world, violence brings about more
violence, and innocent people suffer as a result while the vicious cycle continues.
In Sicario, the line that separates good and evil is meaningless, as the history of war has proven
time and time again, sometimes the only way to combat the bigger threat is to be a threat.
But what we learn is that when you cross that immoral line, it’s almost impossible to come back.
But that was my video essay on Denis Villeneuve's Sicario and how the director
displayed questions of morality. If we do eventually get a Dune Part 2 and beyond, I'm
especially intrigued to see how the filmmaker will present further questions of morality as
the story does evolve into challenging the role of a leader and what comes with
that. But like Sicario and other films that Denis Villeneuve has made,
the director has always done a great job at making this a pivotal part of his story
and I think he may do the same with Dune if we get to the parts of the story which include that.
But let me know down below what you personally thought towards Denis Villeneuve's Sicario,
alongside things that you find interesting about his 2015 film and morality.
My next video in this Road to Dune marathon continues with Denis Villeneuve's Arrival,
where I will be going deeper into how the director crafted a perfect message of
cooperation, which is again a theme that links into his adaptation
of Dune. This will be released in the next week alongside much more content on Dune 2021
coming over the next few months. To stay up to date with this series along with all the latest
news on Denis Villeneuve's DUNE, then subscribe to the channel and turn on your notifications.
Also if you enjoyed this video remember to leave a like rating and follow me on social media
via the links in the description. But anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed it, I've
been Cortex and as always make some noise.