The director (Brian De Palma) uses the opening sequence to set his fictional film (a remake of the Howard Hawks film of 1932) against a background of real events in recent American history.
The film begins with a driving Giorgio Moroder instrumental accompanying a rolling text sequence. The text reads: ‘In May 1980, Fidel Castro opened the harbour at Mariel, Cuba, with the apparent intention of letting some of his people join their relatives in the United States. Within seventy-two hours, 3000 US boats were headed for Cuba; it soon became evident that Castro was forcing the boat owners to carry back with them not only their relatives, but the dregs of his jails. Of the 125,000 refugees that landed in Florida, an estimated 25,000 had criminal records’.
Then the audience sees news footage of Castro’s speech to his people, explaining to them what’s being done, and why these people are leaving Cuba en masse. “…They are unwilling to adapt to the spirit of our revolution…”, “We don’t want them!”, “We don’t need them!” The huge crowd applauds his speech.
After this, the opening credits start and these are interspersed with more news footage of boats overflowing with Cuban migrants on their way to America. A lot of this footage is shot from helicopters. The migrants seem to be happy to be leaving Cuba. People are waving and smiling. A man is shown holding a child and he points significantly to the American flag on their arrival. The final shots of news footage show people waiting around in a US Homeland Security immigrant holding area.
The fictional film then begins with the camera panning from black shadow to the partially obscured face of Al Pacino. He plays the lead character, a Cuban migrant called Tony Montana, who is being interviewed by a number of Homeland Security officials. They are questioning him about his relatives and his past life in Cuba. They are concerned about how he got the scar on his face, and also the tattoo on his hand. The officials don’t buy his story and are suspicious about his motives. The scene ends with him being transported to “Freedom Town” for further questioning.
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