Narco-song of Sinaloa
In the riveting Narco-song of Sinaloa, RT Documentary travels to Culiacan, the epicenter for the most powerful and dangerous drug cartel in the world.
The allure of festive religious gatherings and soothing balladeers cannot mask the perilous environment that surrounds them on all sides. The drug business is the only lucrative option for many of the city's residents, but those who accept its enticements are often forced to pay the ultimate price. Laborers find constant, but low paying work building heavily secured tombs in the local cemetery. Crosses are strewn throughout the city to commemorate the dead.
Thousands have fled the city out of fear for their lives. Even if these refugees don't experience a direct threat from the drug lords themselves, they feel violated by the government special forces who randomly raid their homes in search of them. About 15% of citizens are victims of cartel violence. Even so, some heap praise on the most successful drug players for financing roads and electricity in the most impoverished areas.
It's an area of relaxed beauty, but terror may strike at any moment. The documentary crew experiences this dichotomy firsthand during a dangerous exchange with armed men late in the film. The area is particularly inhospitable for snooping members of the media, and this tension is felt throughout the film. Journalists who dare to cast a sharply critical eye on the local drug scene have been known to disappear.
In an impromptu moment, the film crew stops random people on the street and asks them if they've personally experienced any negative impacts from the reigning cartel. Most admit to having lost a loved one due to drug violence.
The filmmakers also explore the reality for local marijuana growers. These farmers play a never-ending game of cat and mouse with local authorities, and their operations have suffered diminishing returns since parts of the U.S. legalized the drug.
Finally, Narco-song of Sinaloa offers a new twist in its cultural exploration of the region. The viewer is given a primer on the musicians whose songs reflect the live fast and die young way of life for those who enter the drug business.
Directed by: Alexey Brazhnikov
RT apparently lacks the credibility and prestige and therefore inside access that is necessary to adequately cover the subject matter. Ninety-nine percent of the film reveals nothing that could otherwise be accomplished by any Spanish-speaking tourist with a camera on holiday. For instance, at least 30 minutes is spent simply filming and discussing the “Drug Saint” shrine, which is common knowledge to any layperson familiar with Mexican custom and Saint culture, or virtually any consumer of Western media, journalistic or fictional, e.g. Breaking Bad. No one with any insight into Cartel or law enforcement operations is interviewed. There is little indication that the filmmakers ever even sought comment by a public official or other authoritative source, falling well-short of the vast majority of other journalists who did in the course of their coverage. Collectively, such effort has generated countless pieces of original journalism fit for, and resulting in, various publications based on their contribution of something “more” adding to the story. The pinnacle of this piece, in stark contrast to others produced by Ross Kemp for example, is uncovering a dirt-poor marijuana farmer with whom they tour a mostly barren field on which there purportedly once grew a marijuana crop, but was allegedly destroyed by the authorities. Oh my...That’s ground breaking information: now the public knows that some people attempt to cultivate marijuana in Mexico and it’s economically rationale? No way! Pulitzer prize right there. Get back to your day job RT: propping Putin up as his propaganda machine.
product of original and hence publishable quality that that thousands of publishable of spans the spectrum of reporting methodology, perspective, and format, and
This was a good doc, learned a lot about Culiacan.
totally ignorant
America WON against Mexico long ago, el chumpo Jesus Lopez. You lost the land, and now country has no legit creation of jobs, so people are forced to profit from OUR money coming in. Any foolish person with no education can make drugs and sell it to addicts, and you are proud of that, that is so pitiful mr mexican. You do not realize how pathetic you are trying to sound like you have the higher ground here. You lost a war, you lost economy, and you lost a lot of good jobs, that is why more than half your country is people wanting to come to America for money and profit. Get real, you are in fantasy in your head, el chumpo
America? Your country should be called United immigrants States of America, you must be a gringo right? You want to take all the credit all for your self, remember that don't laugh so quick, America is addicted.......and 58 more countries buys mexicans cartels product ok...
Mexico must be about the most superstitious religious nut job country in the world. And to think they outsmarted America and made us all into addicts. HA HA!