Amigo de nadie

The scenario is Medellín and the time the late 1990s. Medellín is in the grip of a shocking wave of violent crime, mostly (but not only) connected with drug traffic. Colombian society is starkly divided between have and have not classes and crime is not limited to the latter; the upper caste, wary of losing its privileges uses the same violent means than others that are just trying to survive.

Pre-adolescent Julian is the scion of a wealthy and politically powerful family and the story is his gradual descent from a somewhat violent youth into a full fledged criminal psychopath. We don't know what makes him tick, or maybe we do; he was involved in a crime in his childhood where the victim was poor, so there was no police investigation. And, the guidance he receives from his family is short on moral principles.

I liked this movie. Clever plot, fluid direction, excellent cinematography and faithful reconstruction of an era full of excesses, violence and unscrupulous get rich schemes. Acting is excellent all around especially from Juan Pablo Urrego, playing Julian. As a bonus, you get to listen to the Spanish spoken in Medellin, full of colorful colloquial terms. (the familiar address is "vos" like in Argentina or Uruguay, not "tu" like in Spain and many Latin American countries). In order to have everything fall into place at the end, you may need to watch the first scene a second time.