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| Special Features: |
Full frame format
Chapter selection
"About the Film"
Trailer |
| Video Format: |
Full Frame (1.33:1)
[SS-SL]
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| Languages: |
English (Dolby Digital 2.0) Surround
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| Subtitles: |
English for the hearing impared, Spanish.
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| Captions: |
Yes
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| Casing: |
1-Disc Keep Case
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 "Drug Wars: The Camarena Story" won the Emmy for Outstanding Mini Series in 1990. Michael Mann produced this powerful, true-life tale of undercover DEA agent Enrique Camarena (Stephen Bauer). Camarena was kidnapped and murdered by Mexican drug lords in 1985. The investigation uncovered corruption that reached to the top levels of the Mexican government.
"Drug Wars: The Camarena Story" is a well acted tale which will ultimately frustrate the viewer with the twisted trail it uncovers. Your frustration will come from the realization that the Drug War is un-winnable and that the only true solution (legalization and regulation of drugs) will never happen. Meanwhile, brave cops and innocent civilians are killed by the cartels, junkies burglarize more innocents and our jails overflow with addicts. (Enough of my rant!)
The cast is great. Treat Williams, Benicio Del Toro, Stephen Bauer, Elizabeth Pena, Miguel Ferrer and Everitt McGill are all excellent. In many ways, this Made for TV film is superior to the Oscar-winning film "Traffic."
Great movie, fair picture, good sound, so-so extras.
Picture Quality: 6/10
The picture is very grainy. Many scenes were shot to have that "video news story" look. In fact NBC anchor Tom Brokaw appears as himself during the vintage broadcasts covering the real events. There are some major delineation problems, and not just during the nighttime scenes.
Sound Quality: 7/10
The movie isn't sound effects intensive. The sound is well balanced. No loss of dialogue. Nothing that will give your speakers a workout, but full, rich sound.
Menu: 5/10
Lame single frame menus. Easy to navigate, but not much to navigate through.
Extra Features: 4/10
The DVD includes a widescreen trailer. The trailer looked better than the film itself. I don't know why they didn't release the movie in widescreen format.
"About the Film" is an 18 screen mixture of production notes and cast and crew bios. More bios than production notes.
The Final Word:
Fans of true-life cop films will love this. The movie is well made. Others may want to rent first. The poor picture is the only draw back.
Rusty White
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