I was listening to National Public Radio yesterday and there was a report on the drug wars going on in Mexico right now. About 8,000 people have been killed in the last 15 months throughout Mexico, all related to the drug cartels.

The report then went on to talk about two villages outside of Durango, Mexico, where bandits have been attacking the villages, taking people hostage, and holding them for ransom. The Mexican army is apparently so powerless in the region that they recommended that the villagers build moats (!) around their village to keep out the bandits, which the villagers did.

Here’s where my storyteller’s eye comes in, although this is more of a remake than an original story. In fact, it’s plagiarism on a large scale, but it’s been done before. Transpose the story from Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai to 21st century Mexico–or the cowboy-tale of The Magnificent Seven.

Villages are being attacked by bandits. The government and army are powerless. The villagers have to defend themselves, but are not up to the task. Enter a group of ex-Special Forces agents (modern Samurai), who agree to defend the village. There would of course be seven of them, one of whom would probably be nicknamed Gringo and would be analogous to Toshiro Mifune’s character in the Seven Samurai–young, sort of an outcast, little experience, but with all of the heart in the world.

These seven Special Forces guys would then lay out a defense of the village, and eventually do battle with and annihilate the bandits–but at terrible cost to themselves. Nevertheless, the villagers are saved and can carry on, as they always do.