Griselda is the Godmother in the macho cocaine world

Griselda Balco really existed. The Colombian was the only female drug boss in the macho cocaine world of the 1970s and 1980s. She was at the center of the drug war that raged in Miami (Florida) from 1979 to 1986.

Police say the US city’s sky-high murder rate fell dramatically after her arrest. She is said to be responsible for the murder of forty to 250 people. She killed two to three of her husbands, the trade would have made her a billionaire. She is also known as the inventor of the liquidation from a passing motorcycle. She was given twenty years, served seven, and returned to Medellín, Colombia, where she was shot dead in front of a butcher shop in 2012 at the age of 69.

The Netflix series Griselda, which is based on her life, keeps the murders a bit more modest, presumably to make her a bit more sympathetic. Presumably the same reason why her dog named Hitler didn’t make it into the series.

What is distinctive about the crime series is that the lead role is female. As the only woman in this macho world, Griselda is initially not taken seriously. She sets up her first cocaine trade in Miami with a group of Colombian sex workers with whom she lives in a cozy house. The women are eager to fight the “hairy-backed bastards” in their own territory. This gives the operation a feminist flavor.

Furthermore, Griselda gets a counterpart in the police, detective June Hawkins (Juliana Aidén Martinez), who, as a Latinx woman, is initially not taken seriously. Her story contains a dash of racism: the drug war in Miami is seen by white male police officers as typical of the Latino population. Because of their role as outsiders, Griselda and June always come up with clever plans that their entrenched male colleagues do not think of.

The series is led by leading actor Sofía Vergara, famous for Modern Family. In that sitcom, she’s the attractive, loud one trophy wife of the much older paterfamilias. Big heart, disarming Spanish accent, but she can also be streetwise and aggressive. Because Vergara didn’t want viewers to confuse the comedic role with the dramatic role Griselda, her face has been thoroughly overhauled: a fake nose, a snot slit, crooked yellow teeth, wigs. That make-up is extremely distracting and turns her face into a flat mask. Even though Vergara does not give much depth to her role. She can play a tough boss, be seductive, a vulnerable mother, a dangerous madman. But she can only do one color at a time.

Pablo Escobar

Furthermore, the series is also a bit blunt and not very surprising. Griselda was made by the people behind it Narcos, about drug boss Pablo Escobar. But the level of Narcos This series doesn’t get anywhere. It is surprising to see how Griselda in the series expands the cocaine market to the white wealthy population of Florida, making the use suddenly a national problem. Her use of Cuban criminals as a private army is also fascinating. These were dumped in Florida by dictator Fidel Castro in the Mariel exodus of 1980 – also the starting point of the film Scarface. At moments like that, the series gets a historical layer.

Most interesting is the chess game that Detective June plays with the drug baroness, in which she cleverly plays on Griselda’s crack pipe-fueled pride and paranoia.

https://youtu.be/1yJdJ8zh3jM?si=7Ht4SqeT-5O0zs6d



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