I watched Sicario recently, which was an enjoyable thriller which used the war against the cartels as its backdrop, and the complexity of the 'war' as one of its plot threads. That film did impact, but Cartel Land managed to raise my heart rate and come over just as tense while also being a documentary. Instead of looking at the cartels or the military or the government, the film focuses on vigilante action on both sides of the border – albeit the majority of the time is spent to the south. The film does a good job of bringing us inside the two different vigilante groups, letting us support what they are trying to do, while also letting us see that perhaps not everyone has the most moral of motives (for instance speaking as a liberal, I think it put a human face on those in the US patrolling the border, but then hard to swallow one of them declaring that the US should be for only one race).
The film follows this path of getting close to the groups, and the majority of the meat is in the Mexican story. In telling the story it is compelling stuff because what is undeniable is that these are people who have been failed. We already know the sickening stories, and all of these are in the mind when we hear more, and see some very graphic images of those who were made examples of by the cartels. In riding with these groups the film gets some dramatic and intense moment of drama and tension, but more importantly what it gets is a picture of citizens trying to figure out things themselves in the absence of anyone else reliable – only for these efforts to fall to the same fate.
The loss of way and the corruption of good intentions is apparent, and it is dramatic to find yourself riding with this citizens group that you support, but then suddenly we appear to be picking up people with very thin reasons and basically torturing them. It shows this and other aspects of the group sliding away from their goals and ideals when they were small – and ultimately ends up with a depressing but inevitable conclusion to the film. In the meantime though the realities of this place are also shown, and we do have harrowing images and stories throughout – although to be honest the site of a young girl terrified ahead of her father's abduction tells a story in itself. The US side of the story is interesting but mostly it is linked to the Mexican story by virtue of being some steps behind tat group, and thus a cautionary tale in that regard.
A powerful film overall, and one that works best by the way it speaks of the problems with those with the power to try to address some of this, and does so by focusing on those starting out with none.
The film follows this path of getting close to the groups, and the majority of the meat is in the Mexican story. In telling the story it is compelling stuff because what is undeniable is that these are people who have been failed. We already know the sickening stories, and all of these are in the mind when we hear more, and see some very graphic images of those who were made examples of by the cartels. In riding with these groups the film gets some dramatic and intense moment of drama and tension, but more importantly what it gets is a picture of citizens trying to figure out things themselves in the absence of anyone else reliable – only for these efforts to fall to the same fate.
The loss of way and the corruption of good intentions is apparent, and it is dramatic to find yourself riding with this citizens group that you support, but then suddenly we appear to be picking up people with very thin reasons and basically torturing them. It shows this and other aspects of the group sliding away from their goals and ideals when they were small – and ultimately ends up with a depressing but inevitable conclusion to the film. In the meantime though the realities of this place are also shown, and we do have harrowing images and stories throughout – although to be honest the site of a young girl terrified ahead of her father's abduction tells a story in itself. The US side of the story is interesting but mostly it is linked to the Mexican story by virtue of being some steps behind tat group, and thus a cautionary tale in that regard.
A powerful film overall, and one that works best by the way it speaks of the problems with those with the power to try to address some of this, and does so by focusing on those starting out with none.