Cartel Land (2015)
85%RT Audience Score:
Awards & Nominations: Nominated for 1 Oscar
19 wins & 38 nominations total
Raw, brutal, and bitter, Cartel Land offers a ground-level look at vigilante efforts to thwart organized crime at the Mexican-American border
Cartel Land is like a real-life action movie, but without the happy ending. It’s a raw and brutal look at the Mexican drug wars, and the people who are fighting against them. The documentary is not for the faint of heart, as it shows graphic images of cartel victims. However, the film’s limited scope left me wanting more. Overall, Cartel Land is an ambitious and urgent account of a crisis that seems impossible to escape.
Production Company(ies)
Stanley Donen Films,
Distributor
The Orchard
Release Type
Streaming, Theatrical, Theatrical (Limited)
Filming Location(s)
Phoenix, Arizona, USA
MPAA / Certificate
: Rated R for violent disturbing images, language, drug content and brief sexual material
Year of Release
2015
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Color:Color
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Sound mix:Dolby
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Aspect ratio:2.35 : 1
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Runtime:1h 38m
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Language(s):Spanish, English
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Country of origin:United States
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Release date:Release Date (Theaters): Jul 3, 2015 Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Mar 29, 2016
Genre(s)
Documentary
Keyword(s)
documentary, drug problem, Mexican-American border, vigilante efforts, organized crime, Matthew Heineman, directed by Matthew Heineman, Tom Yellin, produced by Tom Yellin, Kathryn Bigelow, Robert DeBitetto, Molly Thompson, executive producers, R rating, violence, drug content, brief sexual material, language, violent disturbing images, genre, box office performance, budget, reviewed by David Ehrlich, Mark Kermode, Geoffrey Macnab, Tara Brady, Kevin Maher, Leslie Felperin, Michael J Casey, Christine Jun, Amie Simon, Joel Mayward, Thrillist Entertainment Staff, Dare Daniel, Enrique Peña Nieto, cast and crew, critic reviews, audience score, streaming, rent/buy, The Orchard, distributor, Neptune Frost, 18 1/2, H.P Lovecraft’s Witch House, Stay Prayed Up, 11th Hour Cleaning, Sh*t Saves the World, Final Caller, Girl in the Picture, Hello, Goodbye, Everything in Between, Confessions from the Hart, The Prey: Legend of Karnoctus, The Sea Beast, Moon, 66 Questions, Dreaming Walls: Inside the Chelsea Hotel, Incantation, The Road to Galena, Dangerous Liaisons, Jewel, Warriors on the Field, Fair Play
Worldwide gross: $1,145,923
Worldwide gross (inflation-adjusted): $1,430,419
Worldwide gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 2,507
Worldwide tickets sold (est.): 155,989
US/Canada gross: $704,352
US/Canada gross (inflation-adjusted): $879,220
US/Canada gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 2,217
US/Canada opening weekend: $15,581
US/Canada opening weekend (inflation-adjusted): $19,449
US/Canada opening weekend ranking (inflation-adjusted): 2,521
Budget and Earnings Details
Production budget (est.): NA
Production budget (inflation-adjusted): NA
Production budget ranking: NA
Marketing and distribution budget (inflation-adjusted est.): NA
Box office net earnings to date (inflation-adjusted est.): NA
ROI to date (est.): NA
ROI ranking: NA
Matthew Heineman – director
David McKillop – executive producer
Kathryn Bigelow – executive producer
Robert DeBitetto – executive producer
Molly Thompson – executive producer
Director(s)
Matthew Heineman
Writer(s)
NA
Producer(s)
Tom Yellin, Matthew Heineman
Film Festivals
Sundance
Awards & Nominations
Nominated for 1 Oscar
19 wins & 38 nominations total
Academy Awards
Oscar Nominees
All Critics (101) | Top Critics (39) | Fresh (91) | Rotten (10)
Heineman goes through the gates of Hell and comes back empty-handed.
September 10, 2015 | Rating: 2/5
David Ehrlich
Little White Lies
TOP CRITIC
Horribly real, an urgent and alarming account of a crisis so hellishly labyrinthine it’s hard to see how anyone can escape its widening web of violence, extortion and corruption.
September 7, 2015 | Rating: 4/5
Mark Kermode
Observer (UK)
TOP CRITIC
Matthew Heineman’s documentary about the Mexican drug wars plays like a real-life version of some grim Sam Peckinpah Western in which violence and corruption have become endemic.
September 4, 2015 | Rating: 4/5
Geoffrey Macnab
Independent (UK)
TOP CRITIC
The road to hell, as paved with best intentions, has never looked better.
September 4, 2015 | Rating: 4/5
Tara Brady
Irish Times
TOP CRITIC
Thoroughly researched, occasionally engrossing, but ultimately frustrating.
September 3, 2015 | Rating: 2/5
Kevin Maher
Times (UK)
TOP CRITIC
There’s no doubting Heineman and his crew’s audacity as they venture close to the line of fire, but the commitment to observing dispassionately at all times starts to feel a bit like a cop-out.
September 3, 2015 | Rating: 3/5
Leslie Felperin
Guardian
TOP CRITIC
There is the occasional tinge of bias in the way Heineman presents these people and their stories, but there isn’t a moment where he flinches, even in the face of a cartel firefight.
September 10, 2021 | Rating: 4/5
Michael J. Casey
Michael J. Cinema
Cartel Land vividly presents the gulf between fantasies of vigilante heroism, and how they often harrowingly — if not bitterly — play out in reality.
April 6, 2019 | Rating: 4/5
Christine Jun
CineVue
It’s really hard to take your eyes off Cartel Land-even when you might need to (re: graphic images of cartel victims).
March 2, 2019
Amie Simon
Three Imaginary Girls
Raw, brutal, and ambitious, Cartel Land may be a real life story, but its limited scope in truly exploring the ideas it raised left me wanting more.
January 9, 2019 | Rating: 2.5/5
Joel Mayward
Cinemayward
The run-and-gun style and Heineman’s jaw-dropping access will keep your heart pounding through this examination of the current War on Drugs.
November 28, 2018
Thrillist Entertainment Staff
Thrillist
An almost unbelievably intimate piece of cinematic journalism
November 16, 2018 | Rating: 4/5
Daniel Barnes
Dare Daniel…
Plot
A physician in Michoacán, Mexico leads a citizen uprising against the drug cartel that has wreaked havoc on the region for years. Across the U.S. border, a veteran heads a paramilitary group working to prevent Mexico’s drug wars from entering U.S. territory.
Trivia
Goofs / Tidbits
Nothing to add here about Cartel Land.
Matthew-Heineman.jpg
