Barry Seal is an infamous drug dealer whose exploits came to light when I was a young adult. The film recounts events from the 1970s and 1980s in Central America. The rise of communism and the secret US war to battle it led to the employment of some unsavory characters. Barry Seal was one of them. With a long history of drug trafficking (longer than suggested by the film), Seal was positioned to obtain surveillance photos of communist camps. On the side, Seal ran a very lucrative drug running operation. An operation that netted him anywhere from 50 million to 5 billion dollars.
American Made is Barry Seal's biography. With quite a bit of embellishment. The story take quite a bit of liberty with the material, presenting Seal as a likeable character who seem to have accidentally become a drug runner after trying to serve his country. The film takes us from Seal's time as a pilot for TWA, where he is recruited by the CIA to start his own company. Seal leaves his job (in reality, he was fired from the job several years earlier after he was caught running guns), to go work for Uncle Sugar. He is given a brand new aircraft with high tech surveillance equipment and sent on his way to Central America. In the process, Seal is recruited to run cocaine for the Medellin Cartel, shuttle Contras to America and deliver surplus guns to Nicaragua. Seal brokered his own deals, sending the guns to the Medellin Cartel, cocaine to the Contras, and suitcases full of cash home. After several close calls with law enforcement, Seal is eventually cornered and agrees to set up the Cartel instead of spending the rest of his life in jail. The decision keeps him out of jail, but has even graver consequences. Literally.
I was mildly entertained by American Made, but a voice in the back of my head kept nudging me ("this guy was a gun and drug runner...BEFORE he ever became an informant.") Some people might take umbrage to the idea that the United States was engaged in gun running and even drug running, although the one shipment that involved the government was the one that set up the cartel. The gun running was an ill-conceived counter to the spread of Communism at the height of the Cold War. The film didn't really keep those lines clear. And they also changed enough facts that Seal's timeline of service is murky. Although, to some extent, it was in real life. Ultimately, it doesn't matter, I just don't like the idea of glorifying a guy who was double dealing his country and running guns and drugs. He was a talented pilot. But he was a common criminal.
The movie had solid cinematography, with some great aerial scenes. They managed to build some great suspense at times, which kept me engaged with the film. The characters weren't particularly appealing, although Seals was made to be more likeable than I wanted him to be. The dialogue was pretty good. The film is set up as a flashback, given in the form of videotapes on each of Seal's "life episodes." He videotapes his "confessions" at a series of hotels while he is performing community service. With the Cartel angry at him for setting them up, Seals knows he is a target, moving from hotel to hotel and wincing every time he starts his car. The narrative arc worked for me. It is the only way to give us a story narrated by the protagonist without creating inconsistency in the story. The acting was solid. I thought Tom Cruise might be too old to play Seals, but he did a good job with it.
It was fun to revisit the angst of the 1980s, which created some of the most memorable political drama of my lifetime. The events were somewhat accurate, but were adjusted to make viewers connect more with Seals. The pacing was good, the cinematography was solid, several complex issues were put together seamlessly, the acting was solid. I didn't like that the story was changed to make Seals more likeable. Other than that, the film was decent. I could have waited for this one on Amazon Prime. 7/10.
