The Counselor

The Counselor (known as The Counsellor in countries that use British English) is a 2013 crime thriller film directed by Ridley Scott and written by Cormac McCarthy. It stars Michael Fassbender as the eponymous Counselor as well as Penélope Cruz, Cameron Diaz, Javier Bardem and Brad Pitt. The film deals with themes such as greed, mortality, love, and trust in the context of the Mexican drug trade. The extremely violent and bloodthirsty activities of drug cartels are depicted as the Counselor, a high-level lawyer, gets involved in a drug deal around the troubled Ciudad Juarez, Mexico/Texas border area. The Counselor was chosen as the closing film at the 2013 Morelia Film Festival and also played the Cork Film Festival. The film was theatrically released on October 25, 2013 and is dedicated to Scott's brother, Tony Scott, who died in 2012. It received mixed reviews and grossed $71 million worldwide against a budget of $25 million. Plot In Mexico, cocaine is packaged in barrels and concealed in a sewage truck, and driven across the border to the United States where it is stored at a sewage treatment plant. A lawyer from Texas who is known only as "The Counselor" goes to Amsterdam to meet with a diamond dealer to purchase an engagement ring for his girlfriend, Laura. Returning to the United States, The Counselor attends a party in Texas thrown by drug dealer Reiner and his girlfriend Malkina. He discusses an upcoming drug deal he is going in on with Reiner, which would be The Counselor's first. Their discussion ends with Reiner describing a device called "the bolito" which after being pulled around one’s neck, self-constricts and decapitates the victim. Afterwards, at a dinner with Laura, The Counselor proposes marriage and she accepts.