‘The Day I Met El Chapo’ Tells The Insane Story Of How One Tweet Changed History

This year in particular, there have been a lot of conversations about Twitter’s influence. However, story better shows just how far-reaching the social media site is than Netflix’s insane documentary about how Kate del Castillo and Sean Penn came to interview one of the deadliest cartel leaders in modern history and — whether inadvertently or on purpose — assist in El Chapo‘s recapture.

I went into The Day I Met El Chapo: The Kate del Castillo Story knowing very little about this particular wrinkle in history, and though the docuseries assumes viewers know all of the main points of information, it’s easy to follow along. One night, Mexican telenovela superstar Kate del Castillo fired off a Twitter storm as we all are wont to do. In between admitting she wasn’t religious and talking about love, she addressed El Chapo, asking him to “deal with love, with good things.” She then tweeted, “Today I believe more in Chapo Guzmán [than in] the government that hides painful truths from me, who hide the cure for cancer, AIDS, etc., for their own benefit and wealth.”

In context, Castillo’s tweets make a fair amount of sense. There’s a long history of cartel leaders becoming Robin Hood figures in their communities, and the documentary explains at length how corrupt and unhelpful the Mexican government is perceived to be. Castillo’s tweets were certainly controversial, but without that context they may seem downright insane to American audiences.

Most of the rest of the documentary deals with unraveling the messy aftermath of this one Twitter rant. The series details how Castillo became a source of national controversy, the threats that were made against her life, and eventually discusses the moment when Castillo was contacted by El Chapo’s lawyers. The docuseries also unpacks exactly how Castillo came to secure El Chapo’s life rights for a movie and chronicles that fateful in-person interview with actor Sean Penn that some have speculated led to El Chapo’s recapture.

The Day I Met El Chapo does an excellent job blending the frivolity of celebrity with the horrors modern Mexico faces. On a surface level, the idea that a telenovela star could assist with the capture of one of the most notorious cartel leaders of all time sounds like the premise of a bad movie. But by the docuseries’ end, it starts to make a lot more sense. There’s a power to celebrity that we all silently acknowledge but is played out in full in this story.

However, that isn’t to say that the docuseries is without its faults. The Day I Met El Chapo really likes to revel in Castillo’s star power, similar to early episodes of Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath. During these moments, when Castillo intentionally and dramatically pauses before revealing a letter or stares at the camera for just a beat too long, it feel as though that the series is blending fact and fiction, as if Castillo is acting out her own reality.

The docuseries has also been criticized for being inaccurate by Sean Penn.The actor has criticized the docuseries for implying that Penn helped the Department of Justice capture El Chapo. In an interview with the New York Times, a spokesperson for Penn said, ” “It is reprehensible that, in their ongoing, relentless efforts to gain additional attention and publicity, Ms. del Castillo and her team (who have zero firsthand knowledge) have sought to create this profoundly false, foolish, and reckless narrative.” The spokesperson also asserted that any claims that Penn alerted the DOJ to the interview are a “baldfaced lie” and said ““hereby on notice that blood will be on their hands if this film causes bodily harm.”

Penn’s strong opposition calls the documentary’s more extreme implications into question. Did Castillo and Penn have anything to do with El Chapo’s eventual capture? And what exactly is the point of telling this story rather than as a source of spectacle and reflection on celebrity? That being said, The Day I Met El Chapo excels as a piece of art proving that real life is often stranger than fiction. If you’re new to this particular Hollywood story or an obsessive fan of Castillo and her work, this insane story is worth checking out.

Stream The Day I Met El Chapo: The Kate del Castillo Story on Netflix