Alfonso Herrera's Facing El Chapo has turned into an unexpected global phenomenon. The film climbed to No. 1 on Netflix's worldwide movie rankings, taking a story rooted deeply in Mexico and carrying it far beyond its natural audience. For the Mexican artist and the team behind the film, the scale of the response was difficult to anticipate.
What began as a tense retelling of the operation that led two federal police officers to Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán has connected with viewers around the world, giving Herrera one of the most remarkable successes of his career just as he turns 43. "None of us could have predicted this. It was a total suprise," he told this reporter during an interview. "This is huge for Mexican films."
