In this bold film, intrepid director Matthew Heineman moves between two modern-day vigilante movements on either side of the U.S.-Mexico border. They share a common threat, murderous Mexican drug cartels, from whom their governments have failed to keep them safe. In Michoacán, Dr. Jose Mireles, a small-town physician known as “El Doctor,” leads the Autodefensas, a citizen uprising against the violent Knights Templar drug cartel that has wreaked havoc on the region for years. Meanwhile, in Arizona’s Altar Valley—a narrow, 52-mile-long desert corridor known as Cocaine Alley—Tim “Nailer” Foley, an American veteran, heads a small paramilitary group called Arizona Border Recon, whose goal is to stop Mexico’s drug wars from seeping across our border. Heineman achieves astounding access, witnessing events from within, and powerfully captures the motivations and actions at the core of each movement. On the front lines of harrowing violence and dramatic turns of events, Cartel Land navigates thorny, unclear territory. Are these actions inspired and necessary? Or driven by more complex desires?  ST