Review: Remarkable And Distinctive Narco Wars Documentary 'Cartel Land'

Director Matthew Heineman’s first feature documentary (co-directed with Susan Froemke) was the incendiary and illuminating health care reform piece “Escape Fire.” His second feature “Cartel Land,” solo-directed this time, focuses on a much different issue and takes a more action-oriented, on-the-ground approach, and is more fiery than the first. With unprecedented access to vigilante groups both north and south of the U.S./Mexico border, the film captures searing footage from the front lines of the narco wars, and provides a new perspective on the issue.

The film opens with a sequence that is essentially "Breaking Bad: The Documentary." A team of masked Mexican meth cooks unload their supplies from a truck in  the desert in the dead of night and proceed to cook the crystal under the harsh glare of the camera’s spotlight. Their spokesperson is both articulate and contrite, admitting their knowledge of the negative effects of cooking and trafficking drugs, but...