Reflection vs. Published Review

               After reading the professional review from The New York Times by Manohla Dargis on Cartel Land I have noticed that there are many differences in the review than the reflection that I have written. Dargis begins the review with mentioning how she felt on the views the director had by the way it was evenly directed. The director showed the side of how an American felt about the situation as well as the citizens of Mexico. The reviewer mentions Dr.Mireles representing the Mexican citizens and Tim Foley representing an American citizen.They were both on the same side being against any cartels that have formed even though they never filmed them together you get to see the opinions that they have on the situation. In my reflection I have failed to mention the part of how the American citizen in the documentary felt about the drug war. I mainly introduced the documentary of what it was about and just stated my opinions and concerns about how it made me feel. I failed to incorporate more on the director of how well the film was shot as well as him being involved with all of the on going action. The reviewer mainly focuses on that part of the documentary but rarely mentions the auto defensas or the government which I feel is an important part to incorporate. 

Documentary: Cartel Land
Directed by Matthew Heineman

The documentary I chose to watch was Cartel Land that came out in 2015. It is about an on going Mexican drug war that has caused a lot of violence within the country. This led to the forming of the auto defensas organization that tried to protect the people from the cartels harming the innocent people of Mexico. The auto defensas ended up losing their main leader, Jose Mireles, and started to lose their beliefs while contributing to the on going crimes. They ended up joining the government and formed a cartel within.



1.     I was completely shocked after watching Cartel Land. The scene that got to me was when the auto defensas started to go against everything they believed in. One of the members was explaining how he was excited on trying out his new device that he got, a taser, it would make his victim weak and unable to fight against him he mentioned. Immediately after he explained his intentions with the weapon a scene of a group of guys from the auto defensas made an innocent man give up his vehicle so they can use it to look for cartel members.Once they found the cartel members that they were looking for that reside in the town they break into the house and take them in. In the process they are stealing everything in sight.

        From their actions I felt betrayed since I was rooting for them to make the world a better place but in reality they are no different than the cartel themselves. They became the people they were trying to protect others from. It’s disappointing watching a great organization become corrupt with power.


2.      What surprised me was when the auto defensas became apart of the government. The government the whole time was trying to stop the organization since they viewed them as being violent but then they offered them a deal to join them. When they did join them they were basically a cartel within the government.
       They even admitted to being a corrupt organization that does what they need to do if it benefits them. The whole time they were the ones making the meth to sell in the country. They end up using the money that they make to buy more weapons. The government doesn’t really care about their people all they care about is the image that they display to others.

3.         After watching this film I am just curious to see if this situation will ever be resolved. What stayed with me was the fact that this is an actual issue that is happening in the world. It was like a reminder to be grateful of where I am because there are terrible situations that other people have to go through.

            It may seem like a problem that is not that big of a deal since it doesn't disrupt your daily lives but it's sad hearing these types of stories from people that I actually know about their family members that live in Mexico. They all vary from being kidnapped for ransom money to hearing about towns forced to evacuate or they will all get killed. I personally haven't even been able to go to the parts of Mexico that my parents are from because of how dangerous it is over there. My parent have not been able to visit their hometowns for years because of how bad it's been until recently.

4.    There are many problematic concepts in this film that I would look for more information on. For example, the cartel is the main cause of all of these situations. I would try to see their recent activities and what locations they are in. I would look into the auto defensas to try and find more information of the places that they all came from. The corruption of the government themselves since there is a lot going on. They just try to cover everything up but they have a reputation of making their own laws repeatedly. 

         I would also look into the violent acts that happen across Mexico and try to see what actually caused it the cartel or the government cartel. Looking into the drugs that are being distributed would be a concern as well.