This Sunday is Hollywood’s big night and if you ask anyone in the know, Amy, the feature length doc about the struggles of gone-too-soon music powerhouse Amy Winehouse, is a lock to win Best Documentary. In fact, GoodTrash Media’s own Arthur Gordon gave high praise to the documentary in his column Crossing the Streams. By all accounts the film is a moving look at a brilliant musician that deserves her due (I’ve sadly yet to catch up with it), but I felt compelled to briefly shine some light on the most dangerous documentary nominated at the 88th Academy Awards, the absolutely gut-wrenching Cartel Land.
This doc from Matthew Heineman offers up a look at the impact of North America’s war on drugs through the eyes and ears of two vigilante groups on opposite sides of the Mexican-American border, the Autodefensas of Michoacán, Mexico and the Arizona Border Recon. Each group has very specific goals that thoroughly encapsulate the anxieties of each of their home nations. Arizona Border Recon patrols southern-Arizona with the stated intent of limiting cartel activity on this side of the border, while the Autodefensas take up arms against cartel members in and around their city. Unfortunately, as with all aspects of the drug war, things are hardly that simple. The Autodefensas are mired in power disputes and corruption and Arizona Border Recon has been listed as a hate-group by the Southern Poverty Law Center (more than one member is an unashamed and unabashed racist).
For my money, the brilliance here is the lack of judgement passed by the film or Heineman. Neither group is lionized or demonized by the proceedings. Hell, even the cartels are treated somewhat even evenhandedly. The film is book-ended by conversations with a group of Mexican meth-cooks, the take away of which is mostly “yeah we know what we’re doing is shitty, but look at our options and tell us if you see many other choices”. Cartel Land is here only to bear witness to events, not offer up a reckoning. To give viewers a day-in-the-life of those who have come to define themselves in relation to a ceaseless conflict with no easily defined enemy or end goal. For Arizona Border Recon that means a lot of wandering around in the desert and for the Autodefensas that means politicking, mistrust and gun-fights. A lot of gun-fights. Did I mention this whole thing was stupid dangerous?
Cartel Land serves notice to the American public. Our neighbors are in abject terror on a daily basis and so far our solutions have been to barricade the front door and ignore the happenings on the other side. Why is it our concern? Other than human decency, the drugs sure as shit aren’t staying Mexico, and just because judgement isn’t being passed doesn’t mean Cartel Land has patience for anyone’s complacency. The United States is sitting by watching the house next door burn.
This so-called war has been raging on both sides of the border since before Nancy Reagan first told the youth of America to “just say no” and things are only getting worse. It’s easy to lose sight of exactly what something like that means for the average person, and the power of a documentary like this is showing the on the ground impact of global events. You can bury your head in the sand all you want, but as long as there is money to be made, this shit isn’t stopping anytime soon.
Welcome to Cartel Land.
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A social services worker by trade and a pop-culture obsessive by circumstance, Dalton is one of the founders and original co-hosts of The GoodTrash GenreCast. He is also the host/creator of The People’s History of Film.
Sometimes he tells jokes in public. Dalton is generally pleasant and cantankerous. He’s aware this is something of a paradox.
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