Summary
The film chronicles the rise and fall of the world's most feared drug lord Pablo Escobar and his volatile love affair with Colombia's most famous journalist Virginia Vallejo throughout a reign of terror that tore a country apart.
Cast
Javier Bardem
Pablo Escobar
Penélope Cruz
Virginia Vallejo
Peter Sarsgaard
Shepard
Julieth Restrepo
Maria Victoria Henao
Óscar Jaenada
Santoro
David Valencia
Santos
Mark Basnight
Family Man
Joavany Alvarez
Ignacio Velarde
Matthew Moreno
Pablito
David Ojalvo
FBI Agent
Fredy Yate
Pelado
Ricardo Niño
Careta
Pedro Calvo
Gatillero
Santiago Londoño
Hermosilla
Juan Sebastián Calero
Carlos Corral
Quique Mendoza
Abel Monje
Ariel Sierra
Salvador Martín
Julio Nava
Garza
Miguel Such
Victor
Atanas Srebrev
Agent Holland
Carlos Ramírez
Juan Pablo (8 years)
Tania Valencia
Chantal
Erik Rodriguez
Boy from the Slums
Sara Deray
Paula
Patrick Forster-Delmas
Producer
Lillian Blankenship
Family Man's Daughter
Georgi Nikolov
Hitman #1
Mihail Stoyanov
Hitman #2
Nathan Cooper
Cop #1
Andrew De La Rocha
Cop #2
Colin Salmon
High State US Official
Santiago Soto
Ignacio Castro
Bernardo García
Cali Delegate
Oscar Rodriguez
Campaign Manager
Simón Rivera
Rodrigo Lara Bonilla
Carlos Manuel Vesga
La Plaga
Álvaro García
Alfonso López Michelsen
Catalina Londoño
Nurse
Pedro Ochoa
Doctor Panama Clinic
Douglas Ceballos
Judge Alarcón
Francisco Bolívar
Gunman
Luis Fernando Hoyos
Colonel Méndez
Juan Pablo Gamboa
Director TV
Karine Amaya
Attractive Blonde Presenter
Andrea Vidal
Teenager
Heisel Mora
Airline Employee
Emilia Klayn
Secretary
Alejandro Ruiz
Soccer Announcer
Herbert King
Pawn Shop Attendant
Ricardo Vélez
Surgeon
Nicolas Gonzales
Juan Pablo (Teenager)
Hannah L'Hoeste
Manuela (4 Years)
Manuel José Chaves
Samuel Elizondo
Giselle Da Silva
Olguita Arranz
Juan David Agudelo
Puppy Dog
Nina Caicedo
Woman
Jorge Monterrosa
Young Man
Juan Carlos Ortega
Locutor
Santiago Lozano
Hitman
Alberto Pablo Rivera
Family Man
Juan Castillo
Employee
Cristian Rojas
Judge Alarcón's Son (8 Years)
Juan Sábato
Operator 1
Andrés Felipe Calero
News Anchor
Carlos Carvajal
Stage Manager
Norma Nivia
Reporter
Diego Landaeta
Phone Technician
David Trejos
Passenger
Jorge Alberto Reyes
Janitor
Juan Angulo
Subordinate
Alexander Acosta-Osorio
Workers' Leader
Juan Vela
Worker
Mihail Rangelov
Monje Double
Plamen-Kaloyan Todorv
Hitman #3
Philip Lind-Bendixen
US Marine Soldier
Juan Camilo Castillo
Funeral Employee
Diana Wiswell
Nurse
Quique Mendosa
Abel Monje
Julio Navas
Garza
Crew
Director, Writer
Fernando León de Aranoa
Book
Virginia Vallejo
Writer
Jeff Zimbalist
Writer
Michael Zimbalist
Reviews
tmdb28039023
August 29, 2022
1
A caption at the beginning of Loving Pablo informs us that “This film is inspired by real events. Some of the characters, names, and events have been fictionalized for dramatic purposes." What they don't tell us is that even the protagonists’ nationalities and languages have been changed.
Colombians Pablo Escobar and Virginia Vallejo are played by Spanish actors speaking English – or, at the very least, trying to; Javier Bardem's English is atrocious and Penelope Cruz's is abominable, and their Colombian accents are just as bad, if not worse.
To confuse things further, the characters occasionally say some random words or phrases in Spanish. Now, I don't think it's asking too much of the audience to pretend that the characters are speaking Spanish among themselves even as the actors deliver their lines in English; after all Hemingway did something similar in For Whom the Bell Tolls.
But if the characters are supposed to be speaking in their native language, shouldn’t they sound like native speakers? Also, the dialogue should be consistent; i.e., all English all the time – because otherwise, what language are they supposed to be speaking when they say something in Spanish?
This is a Spanish film, about Spanish-speaking characters, written, produced and directed by Spaniards; why they felt the need to tell their story in any other language than that of Cervantes, I haven’t the foggiest. Except, of course, for the obvious reason of appealing to the Anglo-Saxon market, but in this case why go to the trouble of getting Spanish – especially big names like Bardem and Cruz – and Colombians actors, only to force them to recite most of their dialogue in English? If nothing else, they could have at least had the decency not to have Cruz narrate the movie.
