Netflix’s drama feature La captura shifts the cinematic lens away from romanticized portrayals of cartel leaders, focusing instead on the police who captured Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán in 2016 and refused bribes to let him escape. Directed by Chava Cartas, the film arrived on the platform on August 21.
The True Story Behind El Chapo’s 2016 Capture
The narrative follows two police officers who intercepted a stolen vehicle in 2016. Unaware at first that they had stopped the then most-wanted criminal in the world—who had just fled an operation by the Navy—the officers detained Guzmán, according to accounts cited by director Chava Cartas. The agents rejected briefcases with money offered as bribes by the cartel boss and held him in a nearby hotel until reinforcements arrived. Following the arrest, Mexico relocated both officers and granted them protected identities for their safety. Guzmán, now 69 years old, serves a life sentence in a maximum-security prison in the United States.
Breaking Away From the Narco-Genre Aesthetic
Director Chava Cartas stated via email that his project aims to counter glorification. “In my country, a lot of money has been spent making apologies for crime,” Cartas said, adding that his goal is to show “great human beings who do their job: heroes without capes, real heroes.” Actress Paola Fernández, who portrays the wife of one of the officers, remarked during the film’s premiere that audiences have grown accustomed to improperly idolizing the drug trade. This production follows Cartas’s 2025 film Contraataque, which chronicled elite Mexican soldiers countering a band of sicarios near the U.S. border. That film was the eighth most-watched movie globally on Netflix in the first half of 2025, proving an appetite for stories centered on security forces rather than kingpins.
Shifting Cultural Tides in Latin American Television and Film
The release of La captura coincides with a broader pushback against narco-culture led by public figures like President Claudia Sheinbaum, who has actively campaigned against productions she argues make “apology for violence” and organized crime. Omar Rincón, a cultural studies researcher and professor at the University of Los Andes in Colombia, noted that the cultural archetype of the narcotraficante as a “popular hero, someone from his neighborhood” who succeeded has dominated regional media, citing El señor de los cielos, which concluded its run after ten seasons. However, Rincón points out that traditional narco-novelas are beginning to lose traction, as modern storytelling pivots toward documenting victims and law enforcement perspectives. Actor Alfonso Herrera, who stars as one of the officers in La captura, acknowledged the complexity of the project, stating that while the public must remain realistic about the country they live in, audiences can still recognize objective stories of integrity within the ranks.