Netflix has struck gold with its latest action thriller, Facing El Chapo, which has quickly become the platform's most-watched non-English-language movie debut of 2026. Directed by Chava Cartas and starring Alfonso Herrera and Noé Hernández, the gripping film explores the dramatic 2016 recapture of Mexican drug lord Joaquín ‘El Chapo’ Guzmán. However, rather than focusing solely on the notorious cartel leader, the movie boldly shifts its lens to the two ordinary federal police officers who unexpectedly caught him.
The true events unfolded on January 8, 2016 in Los Mochis, Sinaloa. Joaquín had escaped from a maximum-security prison six months earlier through a mile-long tunnel beneath his cell. During a fierce military raid on his safe house, the fugitive and his head of security fled through the city's underground drainage system. Emerging covered in mud, the pair stole a vehicle but were soon pulled over for speeding by two federal officers who were completely unaware of the massive military manhunt.
Realising exactly who they had in custody, the quick-thinking officers took the men to a nearby motel to await military reinforcements and avoid heavily armed cartel gunmen. It was inside these motel walls that a tense standoff occurred, with the desperate drug boss offering massive financial bribes and violently threatening the officers' families. Facing El Chapo brilliantly dramatises this intense moral dilemma and the unimaginable pressure placed on these public servants.
“When I started reading the documents for this story, the question that captivated me was: ‘What would I do?’” Chava explained. “Would I have accepted the bribe? Would I have let that character go?”
While the production takes necessary creative liberties to fill in the historical gaps, it ultimately aims to honour the real-life officers whose identities remain protected for security reasons. “We didn’t want to glorify anything, but simply tell the story of two Mexican heroes,” Chava noted, adding that the project was born out of a genuine desire to pay tribute to the men who risked everything to ensure good prevailed.
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