Diagonaldi Very well executed

Inclubabu Plot so thin, it passes unnoticed.

Zandra The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

Cheryl A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

Ersbel Oraph This is not really a story. Just a collage of emotional footage. There is no reason. The the structure is not very clear anyway. To make things worse, the producers are doing their best of white washing the racist gangs North of the border. The ridicule of the wall is missed. The fact that the State is building up all this situation on both sides of the border is ignored. As they gloss over the fact that the worst gangs are State owned: a vast assortment of police and military forces. And the blame is put on the dirt poor peasants trying to make a living or simply trying to survive. And why are all these people so violent? I mean people far away from the traffic areas are quite peaceful while being almost identical genetically with these people. Who cares? The devil. After all all seem to be high on religion and low on education.And all that and many other previous wars simply for some old white men to draw a colored line on a map. But that is way over the head of the producers. Long live yellow journalism!Contact me with Questions, Comments or Suggestions ryitfork @ bitmail.ch

m-oosterheerd Editors note: Almost always people comment on films on this website in quite a good way. So I never felt the urge to write/contribute something....The film:First of all I never wrote a review on this website before. And to be honest i don't think this will count as a review. Actually it was never my intention to write a review but more so to ask a critical question... Is this still a documentary? The quality of the images, the story and of the film in general are mind blowing! It gets you thinking and shows you the good, the bad and the ugly (pun intended).The story itself and the people involved are real, but in my opinion this is a reenactment! Staged, beautifully done but staged... The subject and the way they showed it is compelling, brutal at times, and it will get you thinking but I can't lose the feeling i watched a movie/film and not a documentary... Which is either brilliant or bad... Help me out, your thoughts pls.

bison_burger This is a well-done documentary on both the Mexican drug cartels and our porous border to the south. The Autodefensas, led by a Clint Eastwood-esque commanding figure who is a Mexican surgeon and passionate about protecting the lives of his fellow countrymen from the savages who control Mexico's cartels, move from town to town disarming and eradicating the local drug lords who rule through intimidation, taxation, kidnapping, and murder. Although the intentions of the Autodefensas are good, they ultimately fall prey to their own peasant culture; once established in a town, the members revert to "flirting" with the local girls and start engaging in their own forms of corruption. The locals complain in open public forums that the Autodefensas are no better than the corrupt Mexican government. When Dr. Mireles, who was portrayed as a good family man early in the movie, eventually is overtaken by his newfound power and cultural machismo, it is clear that there is no guaranteed mode of rescue available to the Mexican people, at least none from within Mexico. This is the peasant culture that America is fighting to keep out, a culture that is so wildly different than ours, a culture which continually fails to embrace a state of descent, moral behavior, and erodes every aspect of their lives from within. It becomes clear, again, that an impermeable wall will stop the flow of drugs and corruption into America - if they can't sell it, the cartels will no longer exist. Kudos to the paramilitaries on the Arizona side who have dedicated their lives to protecting our border, language, and culture.

Jackson Booth-Millard The definition of "cartel" is: an international syndicate, combine, or trust formed especially to regulate prices and output in some field of business; I had heard the word in crime films and stuff, so it was going to be interesting to see how this Mexican / Spanish documentary film would look at them in real life. Basically this film looks at two two modern-day vigilante groups, the Arizona Border Recon, led by American veteran Tim "Nailer" Foley, and the Autodefensas, led by Michoacán-based physician Dr. "El Doctor" José Mireles. The film also looks at the two groups shared enemy, the murderous Mexican drug cartels, including the violent Knights Templar, who have wreaked havoc on the region for years. The film takes place in Michoacán, southwest Mexico, and Arizona, including Altar Valley, a desert corridor also known as Cocaine Alley, the three focused groups are both sides of the law and bring their own brand of justice to a society where institutions have failed. Director Matthew Heineman got up and close to the action, going to great lengths to capture the chilling and visceral actions of the two sides of this serious issue, including firefights, gunpoint interrogations and torture sessions, I agree with the critics that this film lacks objectivity and some kind of conclusion, but you cannot the deny power and it showing the blurry line between good and evil, an interesting enough documentary. It was nominated the Oscar and BAFTA for Best Documentary. Worth watching!