Cartel Land Vigilante Groups Fighting Mexican Drug Cartels
In this Sundance award-winning film, Director Matthew Heineman and Executive Producer Kathryn Bigelow (The Hurt Locker, Zero Dark Thirty) gain unprecedented, on-the-ground access to the riveting stories of two modern-day vigilante groups and their shared enemy-- the murderous Mexican drug cartels.
In the Mexican state of Michoacan, Dr. Jose Mireles, a small-town physician known as "El Doctor," leads the Autodefensas, a citizen uprising against the violent Knights Templar drug cartel. Meanwhile, in Arizona's Altar Valley - a narrow, 52-mile-long desert corridor known as Cocaine Alley - Tim "Nailer" Foley, an American veteran, heads a small paramilitary group called Arizona Border Recon, whose goal is to stop Mexico's drug wars from seeping across our border.
Nominated for Best Documentary at the Academy Awards. Winner of Exceptional Merit in Documentary Filmmaking at the Primetime Emmy Awards. Nominated for Best Documentary at the BAFTA Awards. Winner of the Cinematography and Directing Awards for Documentary at the Sundance Film Festival.
"There are scenes here unlike anything you've seen. Timely, thoughtful and supremely well-constructed, we'd be stunned if this isn't the doc to beat on Oscar night." - Tom Huddleston, Time Out
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Comments (3)
Obviously Suzanne finds it easier to use myopia rather than vision to judge a film. This documentary is 70% in spanish and takes place mostly in Mexico. It is primarily a biography of Dr. Jose Manuel Mireles and the Autodefensas movement. As a point of erudition for Suzanne, Mexico is a ...Read more
Obviously Suzanne finds it easier to use myopia rather than vision to judge a film. This documentary is 70% in spanish and takes place mostly in Mexico. It is primarily a biography of Dr. Jose Manuel Mireles and the Autodefensas movement. As a point of erudition for Suzanne, Mexico is a nation and hispanics are a culture not a race. This documentary was produced by OSCAR winner Kathryn Bigelow and is excellent. Ignore Suzanne's selective sensitivity and watch the entire fascinating story evolve.
Read lessPerhaps you're being a bit harsh on Suzanne...I don't think she was judging the film as a whole. From my perspective, it appears as if Suzanne was simply voicing her opinion on one aspect of the film. I appreciated the complexity and development of the film, but I was also left with a bit of ...Read more
Perhaps you're being a bit harsh on Suzanne...I don't think she was judging the film as a whole. From my perspective, it appears as if Suzanne was simply voicing her opinion on one aspect of the film. I appreciated the complexity and development of the film, but I was also left with a bit of a sour taste by some of the American vigilante's comments. Nonetheless, that doesn't mean I'm writing him off as this or that. I can empathize and connect with a lot of his story as well.
Read lessSorry, couldn't stomach the American vigilantes. The underlying sentiment of this group is racism at its worst. Not about controlling drug cartels. The man who lost his job and home during the '08 recession needs a scapegoat so he hunts brown people. The only thing that will stop the flow of ...Read more
Sorry, couldn't stomach the American vigilantes. The underlying sentiment of this group is racism at its worst. Not about controlling drug cartels. The man who lost his job and home during the '08 recession needs a scapegoat so he hunts brown people. The only thing that will stop the flow of drugs is to stop the demand for those drugs.
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