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"Cartel Land"
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U.S. Documentary
There's half a great movie in "Cartel Land," a gritty street-level documentary about vigilante action on both sides of the U.S./Mexico border. On the one hand, director Matthew Heineman follows a self-appointed border patrol in Arizona, playing soldier and watching "Hannity." On the other, he goes along with Grupo de Autodefensa, a group of armed citizens aiming to take cities and towns back from the drug cartels in the Mexican state of Michaocan. The Mexican side of the story is riveting, with you-are-there gunfights and a deep-seated suspicion of both the cartels and the corrupted police force. It's so fascinating, and so illustrative of the dead-end options for combatting Mexico's drug trade, that one wishes Heineman had followed that thread and jettisoned his back-and-forth approach.
- Sean P. Means
"Cartel Land" is screening in the U.S. Documentary competition of the 2015 Sundance Film Festival. It screens again: Saturday, 3 p.m., Sundance Screening Room, Sundance resort; Monday, 11:30 a.m., Library Center Theatre, Park City; Wednesday, 4 p.m., Redstone Cinema 2, Park City; Thursday, 6 p.m., Salt Lake City Library Theatre; Friday, Jan. 30, 6 p.m., Yarrow Hotel Theatre, Park City.