Some time around the 31st December 2015, I decided to watch more documentaries. The thought of adding more documentaries to my life had been around for a while at that time. However, for some odd reason it was at that day that I made the decision to take this plan more seriously. I hope to be watching around one doc per week in the future and this is where I’ll be discussing them. So if you too are longing to let the docs out, pick up your reading glasses and follow me on this endeavor.
I have really been slacking on the movie watching job in February. At the beginning of the year, I had these big plans of doing #52FilmsByWomen as well as around 52 docs. But as with all new year’s resolutions, life got in the way. However, I did manage to watch one documentary last month and I really didn’t want anyone to miss out on it. So read on (and hope for better time management from my side this month).
Cartel Land
Cartel Land is sort of the documentary equivalent of Bridge of Spies ; a movie that I thought I had already seen a dozen times before and had little interest in seeking out. Imagine my surprise when I discovered how good it was!
Admittedly, Cartel Land doesn’t really tell a new story. We all know about the shit that’s going down in Mexico and around the US-Mexican border. Still, I didn’t know all the details. For instance, I had never even heard of the Autodefensas, a group of civilians that were at one point quite successful at regaining huge areas out of the hands of the cartels. Cartel Land puts it’d main focus on that group and it’s charismatic leader, as well as a paramilitary group in Arizona that tries to prevent illegal immigration and drug smuggling.
The film effectively jumps between these two surprisingly similar stories and presents the people in them without judgment. It does, however, hide some things from the audience and in a way leads us to form a certain opinion about some things, only to slowly reveal that nothing and no one is like it seems. That’s an interesting and unusual technique for a doc, or at least the extent to which Heinemann does it is. I quite liked this approach even though I’m left feeling as optimistic about Mexico’s future as I am about climate change. A good strategy is just to try not to think about it – no one wants to end up with eternally sad Leonardo DiCaprio eyes right?