This generation’s defining work of American mass-culture storytelling on the border might be found off screen, in Don Winslow’s trilogy of drug-war novels. “The Power of the Dog,” “The Cartel” and “The Border,” which comes out Feb. 26, indulge in plenty of sex and carnage. But they also paint a grandly scaled portrait of political corruption on both sides of the border, particularly in the States. Winslow conveys as much excitement about the Iran-contra scandal, Nafta and Senate subcommittees as he does murder and mayhem. His driving premise: The drug war destroys everything it touches in Mexico and the United States. The trilogy is propulsive pulp fiction with literary heft, a hybrid of “The Godfather” and “War and Peace.” (One of his previous drug-war novels, “Savages,” was turned into a hyperventilating Oliver Stone movie).

There are certainly narrative features from Mexico about the border, including “Al Otro Lado” (2004) and “Desierto” (2015), with Gael García Bernal. But if you’re seeking an antidote to sensationalism, you might look to the world of documentary.

For instance, Bernardo Ruiz’s 2015 film, “Kingdom of Shadows” takes a sober look at how drug violence affects regular people on both sides of the border. His 2012 film “Reportero” follows the staff members of a Tijuana newsweekly who execute a different kind of border crossing: Correctly determining that printing in Mexico is too dangerous, they set up shop in California and truck tens of thousands of issues back to Mexico, where they are distributed to readers. Ruiz’s documentaries have the reportage to go with the storytelling; he’s not terribly interested in cheap thrills.

A dual Mexican-American citizen who moved to the States when he was 6, Ruiz spends a lot of time on both sides of the border, interviewing the kind of people who don’t turn up in “Miss Bala” or “Narcos.” He understands the flash-and-action appeal of such enterprises, but he also sees a need for telling other kinds of stories.