Good concept, poorly executed.

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

The acting in this movie is really good.

True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

If you don't know anything about the Mexican drug cartels and want to, this is a movie to watch. Its well-shot and well put together. As an American, I learned some shocking and horrible things from this movie. Its a decent documentary, though a few scenes look a little staged. Even if they weren't, I was left scratching my head wondering how they got the shots. Its a good movie, and succeeds at what its trying to do. I'd recommend it to someone who wants to learn about this kind of thing, but otherwise probably not.

There are many reviews on here that are ridiculous and simply based in idiocrasy! There are actually people docking the documentary because it films a U.S. vigilante/border patrol guy from an observational perspective, who these reviewers disagree with, therefore they dock this documentary for it, whereas otherwise they claim to have enjoyed it. It just so happens that I disagree with the guy as well (or at the very least recognize what the dude is doing accomplishes nothing). This documentary does nothing to persuade the viewer to the vigilante border guy's view, rather it observes the guy telling his story. Then you get to see for yourself what this guy is doing based on his actual actions (no bias propaganda). Actually, every action that we watch the guy carry out is of him stopping some poor scared people trying to get over the border. At no point does it attempt to convince us that these scared people are cartel members or that he should be stopping these people. If anything one is more likely to disagree with the guy after seeing what he is doing for yourself. These people who are disgruntled over the observation of someone they disagree with genuinely have a serious mental disorder. Whether you agree or disagree with the guy, it's interesting to hear what his perspective is and watch exactly what he is doing. Rather than taking his or someone else's word for it. The guy convinces himself that he is doing something against the cartels even though there is nothing we see to support the guys claim... so why can't these nutball reviewers differentiate? It's simple, they have a mental disorder. Anyways, that wasn't the theme of the documentary, it's vigilantism. Two different kinds of vigilantism, but they both correlate in that they are people taking it upon themselves to act in areas where the government refuses too. However the story over the Mexican border is where this documentary excels. You should understand after seeing this, Government/Cartels are in bed together if not one of the same thing. This applies to everywhere in the world. A different word for it is used everywhere, in Mexico they're called cartels. So yes, I think this documentary captured a bunch of amazing stuff and tried to come up with a way to work both stories into the documentary. As a result, should I rate this doc a 6 or a 7 because both stories felt loosely tied to me, even though it captures what was and is going on in Mexico (and everywhere in the world I believe) unlike anything ever has before and both stories are very entertaining. In my opinion, this is the best reference that I have ever seen demonstrated before as to a pattern that continues to go on, over and over and over again throughout history. In Mexico you have the Cartels, In Russia you have the KGB, in the US we've had a bunch of ravenous groups over the years in which the government pretends to be against, but at the end of the day they do absolutely nothing to stop them and come to find out they are in bed together. So, surprise people the government (gov. is just a generic expression, but you could say the state, the CIA or the powers that be which control gov.), are the real manufacturers of these drugs (there are several instances over the years where this has been declassified information (particularly the CIA). Even though we see in this documentary, the newly united government are the ones out making the drugs (so whether the state/gov are the actual manufacturers, they are always at the very least the ghost manufacturers and get paid/kickbacks the same either way) and these horrendous gangs/cartels are the ones selling their product. This documentary demonstrates the Mexican government/military does nothing to stop the cartels and in fact come to the cartels aid. Then they show what happens to the liberation groups that wake up and fight back, they eventually get infiltrated/ convinced/paid off by the government to step aside and/or join forces and then you're right back to square one. Like that Papa Smurf clown. I'm curious if the guy was an infiltrator from the start or if he was bought off. One thing for certain is; he allowed some audience members running some cointelpro tactics to overpower him in a speech. In that instance, I believe they essentially had a handful or more of rehearsed and planned criticisms to bounces off one another in tandem, which can easily and effectively bring an entire audience who would otherwise be in support of the speakers cause, against the speaker and the cause. This stuff is taught in CIA/FBI training and I'm sure in many other gov organizations around the world. Another way is just through media control and what not, they convince the people through propaganda or whatever the "horrible" things that the people/liberation group are doing. In this instance, I feel certain that the crowd criticism was a planned cointelpro tactic 100% without any shadow of a doubt. Anyways, this information has been known by some people for years, but this is probably the first time that I've ever seen someone in the thick of it actually capturing it on film as it was happening… they actually captured the entire process from start to finish… It's amazing! This documentary (the Mexico part) is an essential demonstration of something that people really need to be aware of.

This is definitely of interest but I found it in some ways skimming the surface. It provides us with very viewable vigilante groups (and maybe too entertaining), but there is not much insight into the "why". Why has the Mexican government failed so much in dealing with the cartel groups? How have the cartel groups infiltrated the police forces, the Mexican military...What has happened in the many towns that have come under the sway of the cartels? From my readings, conditions are far worse on the southern Mexican border than on their northern border. Also there is no data provided in this documentary on how drugs get over the border – and more importantly the mules that do this.Really this documentary should have been entitled something along the lines of "Vigilante Groups in Mexico and Arizona".

(I don't think this review contains spoilers.)I began watching this believing it was a documentary, and it was compelling. Then, during the scene in which Papa Smurf is addressing angry townspeople, I had the sense that this scene was staged. Later, when the man in the Jeep is taken into custody, his daughter screaming "no quiero morir" ("I don't want to die") struck me as acting. A little further along, one of the vigilantes shows us his stun gun. When he activates it, we see a blue spark jump between the electrodes and we hear a clicking sound. I have one of these and it does neither when activated. Perhaps there are more powerful ones that do, but my credulity had already been compromised by the earlier scenes, so at this point I was suspicious of anything looking staged.Finally, the scene where El Doctor visits his Mami, the crew stays behind the gates while we hear them speaking. But the sound quality of their conversation is as if the two had been miked; there is little background, ambient sound, and there voices are crisp and clear.I'm not saying the entire film was staged, but these three scenes didn't ring true to me. The documentarian relies on honesty not out of an ethical choice, but for his own credibility. If you start staging certain scenes, how is the viewer to know if any of it--especially the shootouts--is real?