When
A Man Apart begins, Sean Vetter (played by Vin Diesel)
informs us that the border between México and the
United States is 5,000 miles long, separated by a 15 foot
fence, yet an average of 20 tons of cocaine goes across
monthly into the world's largest market of cocaine consumers.
Vetter not only ignores the Río Grande in his voiceover
but also the larger context as the story unfolds. Instead,
we first observe his group of "gangbangers" aiding
the Mexican police in arresting Memo Lucero (played by
Geno Silva) and his entourage after tracking them down
for seven years. Lucero (who resembles Fernando Rey in
the 1971 film The French Connection) is whisked across
the border and convicted, and then is incarcerated for
two life sentences at a federal prison. The gangbangers
evidently were petty drug dealers at one time, served their
time, and now work undercover for the Drug Enforcement
Administration as a hardened and muscular "mod squad." While
in prison, Lucero sends a hired gun to kill Vetter and/or
his wife Stacy (played by Jacqueline Obradors), and she
dies in Vetter's arms at their Zuma Beach pad. Continuing
as an undercover agent, Vetter arranges to buy a large
shipment of cocaine through Jack Slayton (played by Timothy
Olyphant), a Hollywood hairdresser. A time for the buy
is set up; the location is a pier at San Pedro harbor.
During the transaction, one of the hairdresser's assistants
boasts that he killed a cop's wife, whereupon Vetter begins
to pound him, thereby losing sight of the drug transaction
scam. As a result, several officials die and DEA suspends
Vetter for six months. Without a DEA assignment, his quest
for revenge has no distraction. The imprisonment of Lucero
means that someone will inevitably arise to take his place;
Mateo Santos (played by Juan Fernandez), Lucero's second
or third in command, accordingly emerges, using the name "El
Diablo." To headline his arrival as the new top druglord,
El Diablo ruthlessly kills Lucero's wife and son. Lucero
now wants revenge and puts Vetter on the trail of El Diablo
in exchange for having Vetter request a transfer to another
prison. El Diablo indeed is put out of business, but Lucero
escapes during the transfer, returning to his home at the
headquarters of the cocaine cartel in Colombia. Vetter
tracks again Lucero down, and he presumably is arrested
for the second time after a display of gunfire. Or is he?
At the end of the film, Vetter is at the grave of his former
wife. While filmviewers should draw the obvious conclusion
that the drug trade cannot be stopped so long as there
is an enormous market in the United States, the hero of
the film cannot get over his personal loss, all because
he insisted on playing the role of macho DEA agent instead
of choosing an occupation with more security for his family.
Directed by F. Gary Gray, A Man Apart exploits themes from
much more profound films, notably Traffic (2000) and Blow (2001), and then loses track of them by developing the
character of an egocentric fool who is consumed with guilt,
revenge, and self-pity. MH
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