Alejandro Sosa

Alejandro "Alex" Sosa is a fictional character and the main antagonist in the 1983 American crime film Scarface and the 2006 video game Scarface: The World Is Yours. He is a Bolivian drug dealer and the chief supplier of cocaine for Tony Montana. Only when Sosa was betrayed did his relationship with Tony Montana end. Sosa is portrayed by Paul Shenar in the film and voiced by Robert Davi in the game.[1] He is based on the Bolivian drug trafficker Roberto Suárez Goméz.[2]

Alejandro Sosa
Paul Shenar as Alejandro Sosa in the 1983 film
First appearanceScarface (1983)
Last appearanceScarface: The World Is Yours (2006)
Created byOliver Stone
Portrayed byPaul Shenar
Voiced byRobert Davi
In-universe information
Full nameAlejandro Sosa
NicknameAlex
GenderMale
OccupationDrug lord
NationalityBolivian
AffiliationBolivian Cartel
BirthplaceBolivia

Overview

Scarface (1983)
See also: Scarface (1983 film) § Plot

Frank Lopez (Robert Loggia) sends Tony Montana and Omar Suarez to make a drug deal with Sosa who asks them to guarantee the buying of a certain amount of cocaine every month. After some issues, Montana promises Sosa to talk with Lopez about sharing the risk. When Sosa is informed that Suarez was previously a police informant, Suarez is beaten by Sosa's henchmen and then hanged to death from a helicopter, which Tony witnesses. Sosa gives immediate respect to Tony due to his honesty and straight-forward demeanor, even agreeing that Omar fooling Lopez "could happen to anyone". When Lopez hears of the developments, he refuses to believe that Omar was a "stoolie" and even suspects that Tony has some ulterior motives. Lopez and Tony separate after the argument and the latter proposes marriage to Lopez's girlfriend Elvira Hancock. When Lopez becomes aware of Tony's aspirations regarding Elvira, he sends two hit-men to have him killed. The plan backfires and Tony kills the two hit-men. Tony then goes to Lopez and has his right-hand-man Manny kill Lopez after Lopez confesses to hiring the hitmen to kill Tony. Tony becomes a drug lord in Miami and for a while, enjoys a period of mutual business prosperity with Sosa.

When Tony Montana is arrested for tax evasion, Sosa offers to use his government contacts to keep Montana from going to prison. In exchange, Montana is to assassinate a journalist who is threatening to expose Sosa's illicit activities. Montana agrees and heads to New York City, but when he sees that the journalist has his family with him in the car they want to blow up, he refuses to kill them. Sosa's henchman Alberto "The Shadow" ignores Montana's instructions and is therefore shot in the head fatally by him. Later, when Montana reaches his home, Sosa calls him angrily and inquires about the incident. Montana offends him and in retaliation the infuriated Sosa sends his mercenaries to Montana's home to finish him. Despite the casualties he inflicts, Montana is ultimately killed in the attack when Sosa's personal hitman "The Skull" sneaks up behind him, shoots Montana in the back with a double barrel shotgun, causing him to fall into the fountain with the symbolic "The World Is Yours" globe sign above it. This is notably similar to the final scene of the original 1932 Scarface film.

Scarface: The World Is Yours (2006)
See also: Scarface: The World Is Yours § Plot

In Scarface: The World is Yours the ending of the movie was altered to establish that Tony won the climactic battle against Sosa's men, escaping before the police showed up, although Sosa had succeeded in ending Tony's drug empire. Tony quits using cocaine and the game focuses on Tony's efforts to rebuild his old drug empire on the ashes of his old one and to exact revenge upon Sosa.

Sosa is not seen (though his voice is heard through much of the game) until in the final mission where he held a meeting with Gaspar Gomez and George Sheffield regarding the fact that Tony has taken over all of Miami and is now after them. Montana confronts Sosa in his living room after killing Gomez and Sheffield, and wiping out Sosa's men in his mansion in Bolivia. Sosa tells Montana he warned him not to betray him, but Montana did, referring to the incident with the journalist in the film. Sosa says that in their business, sometimes children have to be killed, particularly so "heroes don't go on 60 Minutes.", referring to the journalist who on national TV named him and many of his allies as reputed drug traffickers. Montana then executes Sosa by shooting him 30 times with an AK-47, unloading the entire magazine, leaving his bullet riddled corpse leaning up against his couch. Tony Montana heads back to Miami, Florida where he proceeds to celebrate his control of the city's drug trade, Sosa's assassination, and the destruction of Sosa's drug empire.

Reception, influence and legacy

The Day wrote that Shenar had portrayed the character with "a kind of glorious and refined sleaze".[3] Complex has ranked Sosa as 27th in its list of 50 best villains in movie history.[4] Robert Davi voiced Sosa in the 2006 video game.[5] Rapper Pitbull said in 2014 that "I wanted to be Sosa – educated, good-looking, a good dresser".[6] The song "Criminology" by Wu-Tang Clan rapper Raekwon, from his debut album Only Built 4 Cuban Linx..., begins with a dialogue between Montana and Sosa where Sosa calls the former a "fucking little monkey".[7] Rapper Chief Keef, popularly named his fifth child "Sno" meaning "The White Sosa".[8] Montana's killing, ordered by Sosa, has been listed by Complex as the 1st one in its "Top 50 Movie Assassinations" list.[9] The character Colonel Sanders in the South Park episode "Medicinal Fried Chicken" is similar to Sosa.[10]

gollark: It's only gemshards which are evil.
gollark: I mean, I don't check the AP much, but I'll aim to click it if I see it during an AP hunt.
gollark: I shall endeavour to catch The People's Prize Comrade (Western), pikammd.
gollark: Hi.
gollark: Alcohol: Poison your brain AND liver™

References
  1. Kasper, Eric; Kozma, Troy (2015). Machiavelli Goes to the Movies: Understanding The Prince through Television and Film. Lexington Books. p. 106. ISBN 978-0-7391-9595-6.
  2. "El Rey Blanco" [The White King] (in Spanish). Pagina 12. March 10, 2013. Retrieved September 7, 2015.
  3. "Scarface". The Day. New London, Connecticut. December 17, 1983. p. 25. Retrieved September 7, 2015 – via Google News Archive.
  4. Barone, Matt; Monroe, Justin; Scarano, Ross; Aquino, Tara (February 12, 2013). "Alejandro Sosa – The 50 Best Villains in Movie History". Complex. Retrieved September 7, 2015.
  5. Gagliardi, Giovanni (November 12, 2006). "Scarface, Al Pacino torna Tony Montana per ricostruire il suo impero a Miami" [Scarface Al Pacino's Tony Montana back to rebuild his empire in Miami]. la Repubblica (in Italian). Rome: Gruppo Editoriale L'Espresso. Retrieved September 7, 2015.
  6. "Hip Hop Artist Pitbull Confident Of Growing A Billion-Dollar Enterprise Within Two Years". Fox News. April 1, 2014. Retrieved September 7, 2015.
  7. Blanco, Alvin (2011). The Wu-Tang Clan and RZA: A Trip Through Hip Hop's 36 Chambers. ABC-CLIO. p. 43. ISBN 978-0-313-38442-4.
  8. Schrodt, Paul (August 27, 2015). "Chief Keef May Have Invented the Worst Baby Name Ever". Esquire. Retrieved September 9, 2015.
  9. McKay, Hollie (April 8, 2011). "Complex Magazine Picks the Top 50 Movie Assassinations". Fox News. Retrieved September 10, 2015.
  10. Wells, Jane (April 6, 2010). "KFC's New Sandwich-What Would the Colonel Say". CNBC. Retrieved September 11, 2015.

Further reading
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