14 DAY TRIAL // For his most recent project, war photographer Shaul Schwarz traveled across the US border into Mexico, for a closer look at the Mexican drug cartels and how that particular lifestyle is being glorified in music.
The result is a documentary called “Narco Cultura,” which will open in US theaters this fall and whose first trailer is embedded above.
Fans of the hit series “Breaking Bad” are probably more familiar with this cultural phenomenon of glorifying a violent life and crime, through the musical acts included in at least a couple of episodes.
They were never meant as a joke.
“To a growing number of Mexicans and Latinos in the Americas, narco-traffickers have become iconic outlaws, glorified by musicians who praise their new models of fame and success. They represent a pathway out of the ghetto, nurturing a new American dream fueled by an addiction to money, drugs, and violence,” a description of the documentary says.
“Narco Cultura [is] an explosive look at the drug cartels’ pop culture influence on both sides of the border as experienced by an LA narcocorrido singer dreaming of stardom and a Juarez crime scene investigator on the front line of Mexico’s Drug War,” it adds.
The documentary has already been played at various film festivals to excellent reviews, so keep an eye out for it in theaters if you like what you see in the trailer.