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A different high

Real people, real stories A still from the documentary and Alex James

Director and cameraman David Notman-Watt made an inventive choice of anchor for his documentary, “Cocaine Diaries”. He chose former cocaine addict Alex James, the bassist of the British Band Blur. The documentary, which was recently aired on BBC, goes to “the heart of the industry”, Colombia, where James meets with farmers, dealers, hitmen, processors and law enforcement agencies. In an email interview, Notman-Watt explains his choice of James among other things.

How did Alex James come to be the anchor of the show?

When Alex released his autobiography “A Bit of a Blur” he hit the headlines for an admission on page 228 in which he says: ‘I’d spent about a million pounds on champagne and cocaine. It sounds ridiculous but, looking back, I don’t regret it.’

The media and British politicians were shocked and there was moral outrage in the U.K. Having been brought up in Brazil, a lot of my work is in Latin America and I have strong contacts throughout the region, including Colombia. So, I contacted Alex and asked him if he would like to go to Colombia with me. I fully expected him to say no but, to his credit, he agreed.

Was there a fear of James relapsing considering he is a recovering addict?

That was one of many fears we had. Taking a multi-millionaire rock star into a country with one of the highest kidnapping rates in the world was another concern as was taking an inexperienced person to the front-line of battle, which we did. Alex was professional from the minute we landed – his fears were overcome by his desire to tell the story properly.

Cocaine diaries looks at the drug in a new and different way. What was the inspiration behind this?

I’m not in the business of giving messages or telling people what to do or what not to do. My aim in making the film was simply to take a man who had spent most of his early adult life high on coke to the part of the world where that coke is made. I had no idea how he would react to what he saw. It was after meeting President Alvaro Uribe himself, shortly before we left the country to fly back home, that Alex opened up to the camera about what he had seen and learnt in the previous two weeks travelling around Colombia.

Had he never made the trip he would probably never have been able to associate a line of cocaine in a club in London with the trail of death and destruction it leaves in its wake in Colombia. I admire Alex for stepping out of his comfort zone here to challenge himself and his preconceptions.

It is important to point out Alex had been sober/drug free for a number of years before travelling to Colombia, so his experiences were not of a user, but that of a former user. Coke and rock’n’roll have always gone together. But not like this.

Could you share some of your experiences during shooting?

Alex is a father, like myself, so his first concerns were obviously that of safety. Travelling in Colombia, especially on the front line in the fight against drugs, is never going to be safe.

I was honest, and told him the only way to tell the story properly was to go to the heart of the story – meeting the drug traffickers, contract killers, soldiers, guerrillas, users and pushers that make up the cocaine riddle.

Alex got angry on two separate occasions during the shoot. Once was because the food he ordered at a hotel arrived cold. The second was because the hotel lost some of his clothes in dry cleaning. He was fine on the front-line, but give him cold food and that is a different story!

Was it un-nerving to talk to the hitman and other people who walk on the wrong side of the law?

I have to admit that as a journalist I am drawn to the underworld. It’s always unnerving speaking to criminals, especially armed ones. But the fact is that these are real people with real stories. It’s my job to dig these stories out.

Was it difficult to get access to the different people on the cocaine trail?

Yes. I had a brilliant team in Colombia to thank for that. Access is never, ever easy in this kind of story. What opened the doors was that the drug gangs were genuinely curious to meet a man who had spent nearly 2 million U.S. dollars on cocaine.

How long did the shoot take?

We were on the ground in Colombia for two weeks. For safety reasons we kept James’ presence in Colombia secret until the last day in Bogota when he met President Uribe.

Is there a danger of glamorising drug addiction?

Showing how cocaine is made from petrol, cement, sulphuric acid and a number of other deadly chemicals (as we do in the film) is not, in my opinion, glamorising anything.

How difficult is it to wear the different hats of producer, director and camera man?

I have done this for many years now so it’s second nature to me. I couldn’t play the bass and sing at the same time as Alex did/does in Blur. But I can produce, direct and film quite happily.

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