"In May 1980, Fidel Castro opened the harbor at Mariel, Cuba, with the apparent intention of letting some of his people join their relatives in the United States. Within seventy-two hours, 3,000 U.S. boats were headed for Cuba. It soon became evident that Castro was forcing the boat owners to carry back with them not only their relatives, but the dregs of his jails. Of the 125,000 refugees that landed in Florida, an estimated 25,000 had criminal records" (Scarface).
With a superb script by Oliver Stone, masterful direction from Brian DePalma, a deliciously menacing score by Giorgio Moroder and an exceptional performance by Al Pacino, is any wonder the 1983 film, Scarface, has achieved such exposure. Al Pacino stars as the Cuban refugee, Tony Montana, whose intelligence, guts, and ambition help him skyrocket from dishwasher to the top of a criminal empire but whose eventual paranoia and incestuous desire for his kid sister (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio) prove his undoing. Scarface exceeds the boundaries of its genre and achieves the devastating feel of a Shakespearean tragedy. .
DePalma's 1983 remake of the 1932 gangster picture Scarface (1932) transplanted the thirties premise to modern day Miami, with the Capone-inspired lead character involved in bootlegging, now a Cuban refugee who rises through the ranks of the cocaine industry. Instead of the straight "rise and fall" story of an Italian mobster, we now have a Cuban, cursed with obsessive ambition, utilizing his new freedoms in the capitalist society of the U.S. The plot is generally the same as the original, including the implied incestuous relationship with his younger sister.
From an Oliver Stone script that allows no room for boredom, Brian DePalma guides us from real footage of Castro and boatloads of refugees to the pure fantasy of the film's heavy artillery, emotion twisting finale.
Scarface is a living testament to much of the 80's ideals and way of thinking.