Trailer For ‘Cartel Land,’ Documentary About Vigilantes Fighting Mexican Drug Lords, Looks Intense, Disturbing And Riveting

What would YOU do if violence came to your front door? That’s the question that filmmaker Matthew Heineman is asking in his documentary Cartel Land. This extremely promising film takes you into the insane world of vigilante groups in the United States and in Mexico that have taken the law into their own hands to fight dangerous drug cartels.

The movie comes with much hype after Heineman won the Directing Award at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year, as well as the Special Jury Award for Cinematography. Plus Kathryn Bigelow (Zero Dark Thirty and Hurt Locker) is an executive producer on the project.

The official synopsis is as follows:

“In the Mexican state of Michoacán, Dr. Jose Mireles, a small-town physician known as ‘El Doctor,’ leads the Autodefensas, a citizen uprising against the violent Knights Templar drug cartel that has wreaked havoc on the region for years. 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. Filmmaker Matthew Heineman embeds himself in the heart of darkness as Nailer, El Doctor, and the cartel each vie to bring their own brand of justice to a society where institutions have failed.”

Heinemen gives you an incredible insight into the precarious world of two vigilante forces; one north of the U.S.-Mexico border and one to the south.

“There’s an imaginary line out there between right and wrong, good and evil. I believe what I am doing is good, and what I am standing up against is evil,” declares military veteran Tim “Nailer” Foley, who leads a small paramilitary group called Arizona Border Recon.

It also unveils the frustration of Mexican citizens who are exhausted by the violence from the Knights Templar drug cartel and are willing to erupt in an uprising because the government has done nothing. That’s where Dr. Jose Mireles, a small-town physician known as “El Doctor,” leads a group of vigilantes called the Autodefensas.

Cartel Land busts into theaters on July 3rd.