• WHAT? — “Blow” (2001), the true life story (adapted from the novel of the same name) about the man who established the cocaine market in the 1970’s.
• WHO? – Mirtha Jung, George Jung (Johnny Depp)’s wife, who is taken along on the ups and downs of his life. She is played by Penélope Cruz.
• WHY? – Mirtha starts out as an innocent woman, marrying George out of passion and love. Eventually, she is corrupted by greed and drugs, becoming addicted to both along with everyone else. Her complete metamorphosis demonstrates the power money and addiction can have over a person’s life.
• PLOT? – George Jung is the son of a struggling small business owner. Seeing his family struggle to make ends meet and failing, George vows never to share a similar fate. Moving to California, he starts his own pot pushing operation in which he finds both success and imprisonment. In prison, he meets a cellmate who introduces him into a partnership to the lucrative new market in cocaine. Upon release, George Jung quickly becomes instrumental in establishing the exploding US market for cocaine in which he claimed that he handled about 85% of the supply in the 1970’s. However, for all the fabulous wealth and power he gained, the true costs of his dangerously treacherous occupation catch up with him in ways from which he would never recover.