Cartel Land (15), directed by Matthew Heineman

3/5

MATTHEW HEINEMAN’S Cartel Land takes a first-hand look at the endless and fruitless war on drugs as the film-maker embeds himself in two vigilante groups waging battle on opposite sides of the US-Mexican border.

The film opens Breaking Bad-style as masked men cook up crystal meth at night in the middle of the Mexican desert. They admit they know the damage it is causing in the US but blame poverty for their “career” choice.

The spotlight then falls on Dr Juan Manuel Mireles — “El Doctor” — who’s a small-town physician. He’s also the charismatic leader of the Autodefensas, an armed self-defence militia which took it upon themselves to rid the Mexican state of Michoacan of the Knights Templar drug cartel.

The latter terrorised the local community by torturing, raping and killing men, women and babies.

Meanwhile, in Arizona’s Altar Valley US veteran Tim “Nailer” Foley leads the small paramilitary group Arizona Border Recon, which is determined to stop the cartel scouts crossing over into the US.

But his story seems tagged on — it’s not as riveting as Mireles’s and lacks any political or social complexity.

When El Doctor is injured in a plane crash — an accident or an assassination attempt? — his second in command “Papa Smurf” takes charge and the Autodefensas start controlling Michoacan, emulating the former cartels.

Once his band of men are legitimised by the Mexican authorities and legally armed as the Rural Defence Force, the gloves are off as they are protected and sanctioned by the government.

The documentary shows how power corrupts and the lines between hero and villain are blurred.

By capturing real-life shootouts on camera, showing dismembered bodies and featuring harrowing interviews with victims, Heineman pulls no punches in portraying the terrifying realities of life under the cartels while revealing how little has changed with the introduction of the Rural Defence Force.

While it sheds no new light on the issue, Cartel Land does underline the futility of the ongoing war against drugs and its conclusion is hard-hitting and depressing.