Panorama – Cocaine: Alex James in Colombia 3/3

With an estimated 800000 users, Britain is a busy market for the cocaine trade. Which may be why Colombia’s president Alvaro Uribe invited Alex James, the former Blur bassist (who has admitted to blowing ú1 million on cocaine and booze) to visit his country and witness the effects of the drugs trade there for himself. The resulting film hangs together loosely: James, now reformed, seems a sweet man, but he’s not a born reporter. Nonetheless, it’s a heartfelt piece of work with some vivid moments, including the “mule” James meets who admits the only thing that would stop him trafficking is “a healthy sentence or a bullet”, and an eye-opening sequence at a jungle lab where the drug is processed. More than one person James meets during his trip has since been murdered, forcing him to reflect that “it’s a long, long way from a cheeky line at a dinner party in Notting Hill”.
Video Rating: 4 / 5