Square Grouper: The Godfathers of Ganja

From the distinguished director behind “Cocaine Cowboys,” the informative documentary about the overwhelming cocaine activity in Southern Florida in the 1980s, comes SQUARE GROUPER. An equally enlightening film, this documentary reveals the plethora of marijuana smuggling in and around Miami, Florida prior to the explosion of cocaine dealing. Through the stories of a ganja-smoking church congregation, a small town of pirate rednecks, and a group of men who served the longest marijuana-related prison sentences in history, we learn about the insane amounts of weed smuggled into the country from places like Jamaica and Colombia throughout the 70s and 80s. Targeted heavily by the FBI and DEA, these smugglers were all incarcerated after making millions of dollars, through non-violent means, off a drug many presumed would be legalized by now. SQUARE GROUPER, a name for bales of marijuana thrown overboard or out of planes in Southern Florida during drug raids, is a laid-back, easygoing documentary whose tone appropriately matches its subject matter. Strewn with laughter, sarcasm, and folk music, the testimonies of these former criminals feel less like observing an ex-convict committing a crime and more like sharing a drink with the old guy at the end of the bar, listening to his colorful pot stories from back in the day. – M.M.