Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Movie Trailer: Pecados de Mi Padre (Sins of My Father)

We are always told to play the hand we're dealt, but no one knows the consequences of that more than Sebastian Marroquin, a name that is probably unfamiliar to most of us. This is exactly why Juan Pablo Escobar, the 32 year old son of the notorious and highly violent drug czar Pablo Escobar changed his name to Marroquin- to escape the legacy of his father.

Marroquin and his mother fled Colombia shortly after the shooting death of Escobar and finally relocated to neighboring Argentina in 1994. He's spent most of his life avoiding the legacy of his father, trying to be just another "low profile architect" in Argentina.

But in a surprising twist of events, Marroquin has emerged from his recluse life to be a part of the documentary Pecados de Mi Padre (Sins of My Father). The film, which premiered last week at the Mar de Plata film festival, has been receiving a flood of press, appearing in Time Magazine, Newsweek, and The New York Times, to name a few.

The documentary has ambitious goals- to "promote reconciliation" in Colombia, to stop the hatred being inherited from generation to generation, and perhaps more importantly, to tear down the glorified image that many of Colombia's youth still have today of Pablo Escobar. Many of them are tempted by the same things that lured Escobar into the drug trade- wealth and power. Marroquin's message, delivered almost 16 years after the death of his father, is a poignant and simple one: "'Hey, I'm the son of Pablo Escobar. Don't be like my father.'"

Will his message strike a chord with Colombia's youth? Check out the trailer and let us know what you think. Is this apology too little too late? Is it even relevant today?


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