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Nailer, meanwhile, has his own motives. His vigilantism is a kind of personal redemption, putting him back on a righteous path after a misguided foray into alcohol and drug abuse. "He's not natively from the border. He's not protecting his home. He's fulfilling his duty—the duty he signed up for when he joined the military, which is to serve and protect his country. In his mind, it's a continuation of that."A Rolling Stone article about Nailer that Heineman read by chance on the subway in New York was what prompted him to make the film. After the success of his last doc, Escape Fire: The Fight to Rescue American Healthcare, an investigation into the failings of the US healthcare system, he was keen to try something different, "to make a much more experiential, on-the-ground, character-driven vérité film." After his dad alerted him to what was happening in Michoacán, he decided to tell the two stories in parallel—although the US narrative is secondary.
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