Kingdom of Shadows

In Kingdom of Shadows, Bernardo Ruiz takes an unflinching look at the human cost of the U.S.-Mexico drug wars through the perspectives of three unlikely individuals. Sister Consuelo Morales, based in the devastated city of Monterrey, prods government officials to take action against the drug cartels on behalf of grieving families whose loved ones have gone missing. Texan Don Henry Ford Jr. offers historical context for the hyper-violent state of drug trafficking today, as he recounts his career as a smuggler during the relatively calm 1980s, before he served time for importing marijuana. And undercover agent-turned-senior Homeland Security officer Oscar Hagelsieb recounts his own remarkable journey, which began as the child of undocumented parents in an impoverished neighborhood where of his many peers gave in to the temptations of the drug economy.