The seemingly never ending – and escalating - drug war in Mexico seems to have been all over screens both big and small during the past few years, as well as in the tabloids thanks to the likes of douchebag Sean Penn, who made headlines after supposedly “reporting” for Rolling Stone onhis trip to Mexico to meet notorious drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman.

Tonight sees one of the better representations of the issue making its New Zealand debut on Rialto Channel in the form of CARTEL LAND, an Oscar and BAFTA-nominated documentary about two vigilante groups tackling the murderous Mexican cartels.

CARTEL LAND director Matthew Heineman has said: “it was always incredibly important to me that the film reach audiences throughout Latin America, especially Mexico. I made CARTEL LAND to give voice to those trapped by senseless cycles of violence, suffering and corruption,” and it’s for this reason that I love both its authenticity and sensitivity to the victims of its subject.

The documentary follows a physician in Michoacán, Mexico who leads a citizen uprising against the drug cartel that has wreaked havoc on the region for years. Across the U.S. border, it focuses on a veteran who heads a paramilitary group working to prevent Mexico's drug wars from entering U.S. territory. By focusing on responses to the cartels by factions on both sides of the border Heineman has created a fiercely gripping tale that isn’t an easy watch, but a rewarding one.

With CARTEL LAND in mind, I bring you my pick of on screen cartel tales, which in no particular order are…

The seemingly never ending – and escalating - drug war in Mexico seems to have been all over screens both big and small during the past few years, as well as in the tabloids thanks to the likes of douchebag Sean Penn, who made headlines after supposedly “reporting” for Rolling Stone onhis trip to Mexico to meet notorious drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman.

Tonight sees one of the better representations of the issue making its New Zealand debut on Rialto Channel in the form of CARTEL LAND, an Oscar and BAFTA-nominated documentary about two vigilante groups tackling the murderous Mexican cartels.

CARTEL LAND director Matthew Heineman has said: “it was always incredibly important to me that the film reach audiences throughout Latin America, especially Mexico. I made CARTEL LAND to give voice to those trapped by senseless cycles of violence, suffering and corruption,” and it’s for this reason that I love both its authenticity and sensitivity to the victims of its subject.

The documentary follows a physician in Michoacán, Mexico who leads a citizen uprising against the drug cartel that has wreaked havoc on the region for years. Across the U.S. border, it focuses on a veteran who heads a paramilitary group working to prevent Mexico's drug wars from entering U.S. territory. By focusing on responses to the cartels by factions on both sides of the border Heineman has created a fiercely gripping tale that isn’t an easy watch, but a rewarding one.

With CARTEL LAND in mind, I bring you my pick of on screen cartel tales, which in no particular order are…

Sicario

When it comes to re-creating the nightmarish atmosphere that Mexico is currently experiencing under the control of the cartels, the reasonably recently released Sicario is second to none. A brutal and unforgiving look at the horrors of the drug war and the men and women who regularly journey into some hellishly dangerous situations to stop an unrelenting force, it is brilliantly acted and beautifully filmed.

Narco Cultura 

As frightening as Sicario makes narco traffickers and drug kingpins seem, this doco looks at the celebrity-meets-outlaw side of these groups who are praised through the country’s music and pop culture. It tells the story from the perspective of two men: a musician connected to the cartels who writes traditional narcocorridos (folk songs that celebrate the drug dealers), and a hard working Mexican crime scene investigator who some call a “bullet collector” as none of the work he ever does leads to a conviction. 

Savages

With Oliver Stone at the helm and talents like Taylor Kitsch, Benicio Del Toro and Salma Hayek on board, Savages was always going to be a worthy watch. At its heart is a moral tangle inside a bloody war between two best buddies in Laguna Beach and the queen of a Mexican drug cartel. A return to form for Stone's dark side, Savages ticks all of the boxes.

No Country For Old Men

Directed by the Coen brothers, this dark crime thriller based on a Cormac McCarthy novel of the same name features a plotline that revolves around a botched cross border drug deal. In the film, working class Vietnam War veteran Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin) stumbles upon millions of dollars left amid a group of massacred drug dealers in west Texas. After nicking the money, he is pursued by the psychotic Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem), a hit man who will stop at nothing to ensure that Moss pays for his decision.

City Of God

Set in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro, this Fernando Meirelles-directed film tells the story of several friends who take different paths to survive the drug-fueled gang violence in their neighborhood. Many critics have hailed the authenticity of the film, including Roger Ebert, who wrote, “’City of God’ does not exploit or condescend, does not pump up its stories for contrived effect, does not contain silly and reassuring romantic sidebars, but simply looks, with a passionately knowing eye, at what it knows.” 

Traffic

Winner of the 2000 Academy Awards for Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Editing, Best Director, and Best Supporting Actor (Benicio del Toro), Stephen Soderbergh's masterpiece is a multilayered crime drama set in the U.S. and Mexico where the drug war affects the lives of everyone from a high-profile government official (Michael Douglas) to the wife (Catherine Zeta-Jones) and son of a high-ranking drug trafficker. Del Toro shines as Javier Rodriguez, a Mexican police officer who is trying to bring down the most dangerous members of a Tijuana cartel.