Star Rating:

Cartel Land

Director: Matthew Heineman

Actors: Robert Hetrick

Release Date: Friday 4th September 2015

Genre(s): Documentary

Running time: US minutes

We’ve seen the movies and read the horror stories but Matthew Heineman’s documentary is an unique peek into what it means to live in the shadow of a Mexican drug cartel.

Cartel Land opens with members of an unnamed cartel make crystal meth somewhere in the hills over the Mexican border - trained, they say, by an American father and son. The leader, face covered with a bandana and a machine gun strewn over his shoulder, is strangely softly spoken and philosophical about it all: “If we were doing well we would be more like you.” The consensus of the strapped gang behind is that this is all there is. Heineman then cuts to Tim Foley, a former drug addict and alcoholic who has found his true calling: patrolling the Mexican border with his small band of volunteers. Calling themselves the Arizona Border Recon, they set about stopping cartel runners and illegal immigrants from crossing over. He likens the area, which he reckons has been ceded to the cartels – “It’s no longer the US!” – to the Wild West.

But the real story, and the more fascinating footage, takes place in the state of Michoacán where, beset by cartels and under the thumb of corrupt police and government forces, the towns and villages call on the Autodefensas for help. A volunteer militia, these roving mini armies are armed to the teeth and set about kicking the cartels, namely the Knights Templar, out of the areas they have infiltrated. One such group falls under the leadership of Jose Mireles, a charismatic man whose day job is a doctor (all the Autofefences are on a part time basis).

As the Autodefensas gain more power, corruption seeps in, factions split, and the locals begin to have legitimate concerns that there is little separate them from the criminals; one scene has a militia man taunt a suspect with a gun for threatening a civilian. One bust on members of the Knights Templar, dragging the killers through the streets and beating them in plain view of the camera, looks a lot like a lynching. As Mireles recovers from a suspected murder attempt, he can no longer hold the splintering Autodefencas from turning into a rural police force under the questionable leadership of the government.

It’s a fascinating watch with only Heineman’s heavy handedness letting the side down – the slow motion and the overcooked soundtrack makes this at times feel like Gangbusters: Border Stories.