| Cartel Land | |
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| Directed by | Matthew Heineman |
| Produced by |
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| Starring | Robert Hetrick |
| Cinematography |
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| Edited by |
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| Music by |
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| Distributed by | The Orchard |
Release date |
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Running time | 98 minutes[1] |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $664,194[2] |
Cartel Land is a 2015 American documentary film directed by Matthew Heineman about the Mexican Drug War, especially vigilante groups fighting Mexican drug cartels. The film focuses on Tim "Nailer" Foley, the leader of Arizona Border Recon, and Dr José Mireles, a Michoacán-based physician who leads the Autodefensas.
Heineman won the Best Director Award and Special Jury Award for Cinematography for the film in the U.S. Documentary Competition at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival, where the documentary premiered. On February 12, 2015 Orchard Films acquired rights to the film.[3]
Heineman got the idea for the film after reading about Arizona Border Recon in an article in Rolling Stone magazine.[4] He was inspired by The Square in the making of the film.[5] Tom Yellin produced the film with Heineman.
Cartel Land received very positive reviews from critics. Review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reports a 94% rating based on 69 reviews. The site's consensus states: "Raw, brutal, and bitter, Cartel Land offers a ground-level look at vigilante efforts to thwart organized crime at the Mexican-American border."[6] On Metacritic, the film has a 76 out of 100 rating based on 25 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[7]
