A new Colombian soap opera centers on the life of notorious drug lord Pablo Escobar –and it is safe to assume he will not come off well.
Two of the show’s top writers and producers are the children of the drug lord’s victims. One writer’s mother was held hostage by Escobar’s Medellin cartel for seven months. The other, Camilo Cano, is the son of a controversial newspaper editor slain by Escobar’s men.
In an interview with the Associated Press, Cano said he would consider the show a success if Colombians could come to recognize the men and women–like his father–who stood up to Escobar.
“The world knows his story and each one of us, directly or indirectly, has been reached by his shadow,” the show’s trailer says of the late kingpin.
But if the trailer’s montage of cock fights, gun battles and dancing half-nude women is any indication, “El Patron del Mal” or “The Boss of Evil” remains a soap opera through and through.
The video’s dramatic male voice-over promises, “We all know what he did, but we’ve never seen how he did it–until now.”
“The Boss of Evil” will air on Caracol TV in late May.