Sicario

Sicario is impactful due to its ability to refuse guidance towards a sense of right and wrong. It turns Morality into a central theme, where we are presented with characters standing within moral gray zones of ethics shaped by institutions, instead of the typical good guy and bad guy trope. The ambiguity is purposeful as it reflects a broader theme of systems and power that operate beyond the conventional ethics of the world. It try’s to force the audience to take a role in weighing the decisions made without ever being able to reach a full conclusive stance. In this sense, morality becomes subjective and unstable, suggesting that in environments defined by conflict, ethical clarity is nearly impossible. Another major theme is how violence pulls the seemingly average person into its orbit, not by choice, but by exposure to something they can never outrun. Kate respresents the audiences initial beliefs of order and legality, yet through gradual disillusionment, it reveals how fragile ideas are when faced with institutionalized brutality. The films overall thematic focus is not violence itself, but its normalization. As Kate is shown in situations of violence that become almost routine, we as the audience experience a similar desensitization to Kate’s. It reflects how systems built on violence use it to condition those within them to accept it. The horror of it all is not the violence itself though, it’s how easily it becomes normalized/a part of everyday life. The film also likes to shift focus from topics of the drug war, to topics with deeper exploration of power and control. What starts as a narrative about fighting cartels, eventually devolves into a study of dominance where the stated goals become secondary and border irrelevant. The thematic shift exposes how institutions can lose sight of their purpose in pursuit of “greater good” that really just involves influence and authority. The constant violence is not a means to an end, but power itself. We as the audience begin to shift our focus away from the mission and supposed purpose, to a focus on those in control and who are being controlled. Overall these themes try to present a bleak viewpoint on systematic power. The films overall thematic focus suggests that violence, authority, and moral ambiguity intersect to create an everlasting cycle that never needs justification. By the end we are left not with answers, but an awareness of how purpose is easily overtaken by power and how morality dissolves in the process. It’s a brutal critique of those in power and how that doesn’t seem to ever be changing soon with how corrupt and desensitized we’ve become to what the world is. This is also gorgeously shot, and as someone who genuinely believes Denis Villanueva is an overrated director, I can no longer say I believe that. You can debate what his greatest piece is all day, but for me this takes the cake. Dune 2 is close-ish, and the rest of his films do certain things well, but for me this one was just so special and I’m absolutely blown away this doesn’t get more credit.