AllMovie

This often confusing political action film focuses on the history of a massacre that happened in 1948 in Colombia, the violent outcome of warring political factions with connections to organized crime. As gangs shoot it out in bloody battles, they are supposed to also be dramatizing the story of the rise of a brutal underworld kingpin from a lowly cheese vendor to crime boss -- quite a stretch that leaves too much unsaid for the average viewer to understand the motivation behind these battles.