In the current race for the White House many issues have been on the table including the economy, education, and the war in Iraq.  One issue that hasn’t been addressed is the war on drugs.  It’s the war with seemingly no end as the illegal economy it fuels continues to grow and expand; in the process destroying numerous lives and countries.  In the new film, Thieves and Liars, by directors, Ricardo Matta and his wife, Poli Marichal, they depict this ever present issue in all its gritty horror.     

The film follows the story of three different families affected by the giant underground illegal economy that emerged and continues to grow since Puerto Rico became the main port of entry for cocaine into the U.S. east coast.  Together, the three stories represent the struggle of all Puerto Ricans to survive the ever-rising wave of corruption and crime that has infiltrated every level of Puerto Rican society.

Sixshot hit the cutting room floor with the husband and wife team for a candid discussion about the dynamics of the drug trade, why they believe war on drugs is a cover-up, why drugs should be legalized, dealing with government censorship, the state of Latinos in Hollywood, and more.

The film looks at the underground illegal economy in Puerto Rico due to its position as a main port of entry of cocaine into the U.S.  What dynamics of this situation are you hoping to get across onscreen with this film?

Ricardo Matta:  I guess our biggest interest was to portray the very negative impact that it has on the family.  Every single family that we know of has been affected.  Everybody has a brother, niece, cousin or somebody who was either indicted for drugs, is using drugs, or lost their jobs because of drugs.  We felt that was a subject matter that gets neglected.  We all read about it in the paper and many times families are hiding their pain.  When you have something like that in your family you’re ashamed and begin to think it’s only me and this only happens to me, but it happens to everybody.

How has it affected your lives personally?

RM:  Without getting into names and details we have personally felt it in multiple ways.  We’ve seen people that we know and love lose their jobs, lose their families, and lose themselves and their lives as well.  Just about every story in the film is based on a true story.

Are you two disappointed that this issue is not more visible in the current presidential race in the U.S. being that that the U.S. and Puerto Rico are so interconnected?

RM:  I don’t even know if disappointed is a big enough word.  We were talking about it yesterday—how we felt that maybe you can divide everybody into two camps.  There are the kinds of people who really don’t care about the election, and the kinds of people who care and are well-read and studying it.  Even the people who are well-read and have good intentions are comparing Obama’s medical plan with Hillary’s medical plan.  We thought why isn’t anybody talking about the real impact that the drug trade is having?  It’s taken over and all this illegal money has put on a giant blanket over our economy and dominates it.

Poli Marichal:  The war on drugs is a total failure.  It’s a cover up to show they’re doing something, but in reality we can’t deny that the drug money is basically supporting the economy.  So many people depend on that money.  They hush it up because it’s bringing in all this cash.  So the complicity involved in it is appalling.

You bring up a good point.  To alleviate some of the corruption and crime some people suggest that drugs should be legal.  What are your thoughts?

PM:  I think drugs should be legalized because alcohol is legal and it kills a lot of people.

RM:  More people than drugs.

PM:  Their thing is you can’t force people to live like super clean lives.  Some people need some kind of escape and they will find it no matter how many laws you put on earth.  People want to escape reality.  So some people have real problems and they use drugs to evade dealing with them.  Most of those people need some kind of treatment.  So what the government should do is legalize drugs and have safe drugs available like they do with alcohol.  I knew a chemist who told me that if the government wanted to they could create cocaine that wouldn’t do the damage that the cocaine on the streets is doing, but they don’t do anything about it.

Why do you think the government opts not to legalize drugs?

PM:  Because it brings in so much money—follow the money.

RM:  That’s the strongest and smartest statement of the 20th century.  I really think there are two kinds of people who oppose legalizing drugs.  One camp is the well-meaning people who just can’t fathom the idea of legalizing something as bad as drugs.  The other camp which is by far stronger and more influential is the people that are profiting from it.  Part of the real problem is that organized crime is not composed of dumb people.  With legalization they know they will lose the vast majority of their income and they can’t have that happen.  So like every other business proposition in the world they spend a lot of money lobbying to make sure that those laws don’t get changed.

The film was funded by the government of Puerto Rico through the film commission program, but your film it looks at them as part of the problem.  Was there any conflict of interest there?

RM:  To their credit they let us make the movie the way we wanted.  We could see on the fringes there was opposition.  People at the film commission candidly shared with us about phone calls and emails they were getting from other branches in the government—asking what are you doing, why are you funding this thing?  But they went on with it and told us to do the movie we wanted to do.  They didn’t censor it but the tourism office denied us permission to shoot in any location that they had jurisdiction over.  They said that it didn't convey the message that they wanted to portray.  The court systems would not let us film in their tribunals even on nights and weekends.  They refused it so we had to build a set to do it.  So there was some friction but it was mostly government offices denying us cooperation.  But we never saw anybody directly interfere and try to change our movie.

The film uses parallel story lines where you follow three lives and connect them.  Why did you choose this approach?

PM:  Well because we wanted to portray different characters and the best way was to do three stories and see how they interconnect.  No matter what you do it has repercussions that affect people all over the place.  So it was a way to grasp the whole situation of what’s happening in Puerto Rico.

You used funds, actors, and everything from Puerto Rico as a way to make a statement that films can be produced in Puerto Rico and be self-sufficient.  What do you think of the state of Latinos in Hollywood?

RM:  There’s no question that there is improvement.  I’ve been working as a Latino in Hollywood for 25 years roughly.  I can’t find a word big enough to describe how dramatic and radical the change has been all around.  I see a lot more respect.  Twenty yeas ago on the set I’d see a character, sign, or dialogue in Spanish and if it was incorrect nobody gave a damn or wanted to fix it.  Now I see great care in authenticity and depicting characters in a true manner.  What is lacking is in the behind-the-scenes—the producers, writers, directors.  We still have a very hard time getting behind and getting control of the story.  We still have to work under non-Latino producers, with non-Latino writers and directors, and that’s still very hard but it’s improving slowly but surely.

What other stories do you want to tell?

PM:  Stories that deal with real issues.  We like drama more than comedy.  We are interested in different issues and there are so many stories that can be told about this subject.

RM:  A lot of my stories end up having to do with drugs in one ay or another but it’s not at all a fascination with drugs.  I don’t find them interesting at all, but what I do find interesting is how the illegal business has merged with the legal business.  It’s all become one thing, and at least in this country it seems like the biggest crime is interfering with business.  That’s the biggest no-no.  Human rights, education, and welfare have taken second place and that’s the story of the beginning of the 20th century.  We have given up the public sector and doing good for the people, by the people.  It’s replaced by profits for corporations.  When you’re interested in those kinds of stories you end up with money laundering ‘cause that's really what’s financing all of that.

For more information please visit:
http://lightyear.com/