The Day I Met El Chapo: The Kate Del Castillo Story

Journalists sometimes take big risks to get big stories, and even sup with the devil to boot. When Kate del Castillo met murderous drug baron El Chapo, she found herself caught between two country's governments, Chapo's gang, a hostile press and the dubious intentions of her own partner in the expedition (who was also briefly her lover). It sounds like a story made for T.V. even before you factor in that Kate was no journalist, but a soap opera star, and her partner was Hollywood legend Sean Penn. In this series, Kate explains what happened, and justifies her actions. She comes across as more than a little naive and lacking in self-awareness; it's still a bizarre story in which she was arguably more sinned against than sinning. What the documentary lacks is real context; you wouldn't get a sense of quite how many people have died on El Chapo's orders from watching it. It's interesting nonetheless to see the contrast between his gang's outrageous feats (like breaking him out of prison) and the boss's completely mundane physical presence. But a more detached telling of events would have been more informative.