American Federale chronicles the danger associated with the border between Mexico and the United States. Director and journalist, Michael Douglas Carlin takes us into both Juarez and Ojinaga with his video cameras. He put his life on the line to give us this behind the scenes look at the perils of the border. In the last decade 81 journalists have been killed in Mexico and dozens have disappeared. Most recently Jaime Gonzalez Dominguez was killed at a taco stand in Ojinaga, a town that Carlin visited.
Production on the film began over 12 years ago when Carlin was able to interview a former Mexican Federale about his experiences in the Mexican Federal Police as well as his time spent with the State Police. Lobo (not his real name for security reasons) gives us some insight into border Mexico. He tells us his experience in the trenches with over 22 gun battles and the cross border raid to kill drug lord Pablo Acosta. To put this all in perspective Pablo Acosta amassed 25 billion dollars by the time of his death. Comadante Calderoni, who led the raid, also became an extremely wealthy man amassing a sum of 400 million dollars that he moved to the United States before he entered the Witness Protection Program. While in the program he was assassinated.
Lobo is a not only a Mexican Federal Police officer but an American. He tells us about living in the United States and working in Juarez, Mexico - "The City God Forgot". In this border town across from El Paso, Texas, the drug cartels reign supreme. Juarez has one of the highest murder rates in Mexico and the world and one of the highest per capita number of widows. We get to know Lobo and the allure of becoming involved with notorious drug lords to rub elbows with the rich and powerful in border Mexico.
In this riveting documentary directed by Michael Douglas Carlin, a journalist and humanitarian who travels the world, we see a man who embraced the cartel lifestyle - power, women, money - and then renounces it and seeks a Good Life. At one point, Lobo made huge sums and spent it all to navigate his treacherous path. He never paid a bar bill. He held sway over life and death.
But then the viciousness of Pablo Acosta changed him. Acosta would take a man's wife, rape her for days and then return her hooked on heroin. He killed for sport. The Mexican Government protected Acosta for many years. Then the order was given to take him down. Even then Acosta was always one step ahead as the Mexican Government leaked information to him of pending raids. One day a scrap of information tipped the scale on Acosta and that led to the cross border raid. A gun battle – ninety minutes of hell ensued. In the end Acosta was dead.
Being a witness to atrocities takes its toll. Lobo has been on a quest to give back to cleanse himself from the blood that spattered on his soul. He has found peace through a life of service. He has found redemption in helping ease the pain of this troubled world. American Federale is an important film and a must see.
(Link for the theatrical trailer)
(Link for blog)
(Link for facebook)
(Link for website)
About Michael Douglas Carlin: Michael writes for the Century City News about social issues including how to have a more peaceful society. His books are available on iTunes and include: A Prescription For Peace, Peaceful Protests, and Rise a Knight. Carlin has produced a dozen low budget movies and American Federale is his directorial debut.
American Federale: Directed by Michael Douglas Carlin, Produced by Michael Mandaville (Taken, Taken II, American History X), Edited by Chrome Cobra.
For interviews please contact:
Melody Johnson
Centurycitynews.mj@gmail.com
PO Box 67522
Los Angeles, CA 90067
424.789.2136
www.centurycitynews.com
Centurycitynews.mj@gmail.com
PO Box 67522
Los Angeles, CA 90067
424.789.2136
www.centurycitynews.com
I highly recommend this expose of the intimate details of the War On Drugs, the Drug Cartels and their violent, wretched refuse abandoned nightly on the mostly empty streets of Juarez, Mexico. Get a closer look into the facts behind the headlines. How Pablo Acosta, Billionaire and cock-eyed freak shot people for target practice. What continues to fund this out of control behavior on both sides of an ever increasingly deadly border? I recommend that you watch the trailer at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNPyXgwWOQY and see the film at a screening near you.
ReplyDelete