Scarface: Minorities in America

The movie Scarface details the life of one Cuban refugee that comes to America and becomes extremely successful in the drug trade. His name is Tony Montana, he is an ambitious character that doesn't like to be pushed around. After coming to America and working long hours for minimal pay, Tony gets fed up with the living conditions for immigrants. He promptly decides that there’s no way he can continue living in such a way. He finds opportunity in the drug trade and swiftly seizes his chance and with the help of his good friend quickly starts to make good money. Tony eventually gets consumed by the drugs he’s selling and the lifestyle that comes with it. The drugs that Tony so greatly profited from at first,eventually lead to his demise. He becomes twisted with paranoia and greed and abandons his friends and family. The movie ends with Tony’s death at the hands of rival drug cartel hit men.

This movie is an example of how hard it is for immigrants and minorities to reach decent opportunity. It challenges the ideology that our country is an equal opportune nation where hard work will indefinitely result in prosperity. As seen in Tony’s case, many minorities in this country are caught in a system of exploitation that almost disallows them to reach the same success as the more privileged individuals of this nation. Often times these exploited people then resort to criminal and illegal means of achieving success, and as seen in Tony’s cases, does not give them legitimate success but only more problems. This cyclical pattern of strife only serves to keep those without equal opportunity struggling for that fair chance.