
The Missing 43: Mexico's Disappeared Students
On September 26, students from the Ayotzinapa teachers' college board buses to Iguala for a protest and are intercepted by police, who shoot six dead and abduct 43 others. VICE News travels to Guerrero state as the case unfolds, filming survivors of the attack, parents of the missing, and volunteer search parties combing hillsides for graves. Investigators allege the mayor of Iguala ordered the students handed over to the Guerreros Unidos cartel, and by the time cameras arrive all 43 are feared dead. The film follows the protest movement the disappearance ignites, tracking demonstrations that grow large enough to set government buildings in Guerrero on fire, and interviews officials and demonstrators as anger over the case turns into broader fury at Mexico's justice system. Shot in a plain news style without staged reenactments, the documentary stays close to named individuals rather than statistics, letting parents and classmates describe what they saw and what they still don't know. It ends without resolution, because at the time of filming there is none to give.