Cartel Land

There are scenes here unlike anything you've seen. Timely, thoughtful and supremely well-constructed, we'd be stunned if this isn't the doc to beat on Oscar night.

This raw and compelling (if necessarily incomplete) documentary focuses on the recent battles between drug cartels and vigilantes along the Arizona-Mexico border.

Shot in times of serious danger, it balances idealism and violence, triggering an adrenaline high and a sense of soul-crushing hopelessness in the same instant.

Even if it leaves you wanting more, "Cartel Land" deserves to be seen.

Much of the documentary Cartel Land, an immersion into the Mexican drug traffickers and citizen vigilantes, is hair-raisingly intense.

One of the year's most important documentaries ...

A little bit of critical distance could surely only have helped make this is a real discussion of the issues, not just a vivid depiction of them.

Cartel Land shows us things we haven't seen before, and its last act contains startling revelations. But the film is also pretty tacky in its numbingly high-octane presentation

Cartel Land is surprisingly effective in its on-the-ground approach.

A real-life action thriller, a terrifying, companion piece to Sicario. Do we want the wild West in the 21st century? Because that's what we've got.

More than a great documentary, this is a great piece of journalistic work. [Full review in Spanish]

The longer it goes, the easier it becomes to be turned off by the frequent graphic violence that so frequently punctuates the narrative.