Cartel Land

— A look at vigilante groups on both sides of the border reacting to drug cartels. An Arizona border patrol headed up by a military veteran is, frankly, only mildly interesting. Of considerably more interest is a band of locals in Michoacan headed by a small-town doctor to take back a town long terrorized by the cartel. The success of their efforts expands to other towns as more and more locals join in to take back their communities. Unfortunately, with success and expansion some of the vigilantes take advantage of their own power and the solution becomes the problem. While the story of the Mexican locals raises questions about the gray area between good and evil, and about power and corruption, the American story is far less effective at asking these same questions. The film might have been better without the effort at parallel stories, but it is still an exceptionally well done documentary.

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[2015. 98 min. Directed by Matthew Heineman.]
http://variety.com/2015/film/reviews/sundance-film-review-cartel-land-1201420806/