Product Details

• Writers: Joe Carnahan, Mark Bowden
• Producers: Diane Isaacs, Jason Zelin, Lourdes Diaz
• Format: Color, Director's Cut, NTSC
• Number of tapes: 1
• VHS Release Date: November 14, 2000
• Run Time: 59 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000058TMK
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #345,440 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Something all americans should know, May 13, 2001

By 

Diego Ojeda (Evansville, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Killing Pablo [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Killing Pablo, Book and Viedo show the truth behind the most dangerous criminal ever. The weakness of the Colombian goverment and military institutions that during the early 90's surrendered to the lord of drugs, Pablo Escobar, in an easy, hypocritical, and profitable way that the common people in Colombia had to pay with their own innocent blod. This is a very important historical document that shows the Americans why the United States gets involved in this kind of overseas conflicts, how this problem not just affected a huge portion of the American society but also it's national economy. After your see this video or read the book you will understand that there are good people in Colombia; not every Colombian is a drug dealer or a rebel.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Nice companion piece to Bowden's superb reporting, March 13, 2003

By 

Andy Orrock (Dallas, TX) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Killing Pablo [VHS] (VHS Tape)

I'm surprised that Mark Bowden's "Killing Pablo" hasn't received that same level of acclaim as his master work, "Black Hawk Down." "Pablo" is a superb piece of investigative reporting, more so (in my mind) for its revelations about the extent of overt *and* covert US involvement in the hunt than for internal Colombian issues. [It will surprise no one to read about the sway that Escobar held on the public, the military, and the top levels of the Colombian government.]

This video is a good companion piece to Bowden's exemplary book.

But, check this out: Hollywood is currently making its version of the book. Spanish star Javier Bardem (outstanding as Reinaldo Arenas, his Oscar-nominated role in Julian Schnabel's "Before Night Falls") has signed on to play Escobar. Shooting starts in summer 2003 with a planned 2004 release.

Now, that's something worth waiting for.

7 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A supplement to the book, October 4, 2001

By 

George Darden - See all my reviews

This review is from: Killing Pablo [VHS] (VHS Tape)

I bought "Killing Pablo," the video, to show to my world geography class as we studied South America. It was a good video, and it facilitated a fantastic discussion about how far the United States should go to protect its interests. (i.e. Should we off Osama bin Laden? What about Saddam Hussein? In a "war on terrorism," what is acceptable?)

There were two big problems with it, though. First, it focused very heavily on how Pablo was actually captured, as opposed to the evils that he committed before his capture. By the end of the 40-minute video, he seems a little bit more like a victim than a mass-murdering drug trafficker. I had to spend some time in class prior to the video outlining and emphasizing what a bad guy Pablo was. Second, and of equal importance in a classroom, the sound was very bad. It was often difficult to understand what was being said by the people in the video, outside of the main speaker.