Sin Nombre (2009)

A Honduran young girl and a Mexican gangster are united in a journey across the American border.

Director:

Cary Joji Fukunaga (as Cary Jôji Fukunaga)

Writer:

Cary Joji Fukunaga

Stars:

Paulina Gaitan, Marco Antonio Aguirre, Leonardo Alonso

14 wins & 18 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Marco Antonio Aguirre	...	Big Lips
Leonardo Alonso	...	Policía Judicial
Karla Cecilia Alvarado	...	Marera
Juan Pablo Arias Barrón	...	Niño #3
Rosalba Belén Barrón	...	Niño #2
Felipe Castro	...	Marero (as Sixto Felipe Castro)
Rosalba Quintana Cruz	...	Tierra Blanca Mujer
Marcela Feregrino	...	Kimberly
Kristyan Ferrer	...	El Smiley (as Kristian Ferrer)
Edgar Flores	...	Willy 'El Casper'
Giovani Florido	...	El Sipe (as Giovanni Florido)
Paulina Gaitan	...	Sayra
Ariel Galvan	...	Migrante #1
Diana García	...	Martha Marlene
Gabriela Garibaldi	...	Diana

Storyline

Honduran teenager Sayra reunites with her father, an opportunity for her to potentially realize her dream of a life in the U.S. Moving to Mexico is the first step in a fateful journey of unexpected events.

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Plot Keywords:

attempted rape | mexico guatemala border | border | girl | railway station | 

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Taglines:

The greatest sin of all is risking nothing.

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Genres:

Adventure | Crime | Drama | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for violence, language and some sexual content

Did You Know?

Trivia

Cary Fukunaga spent two years researching the film, spending time with people on the trains and with gangsters in Central America. He also used two gang members to script edit making the slang and language as up to date and realistic as possible.

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Goofs

The teardrop tattoo on el Casper's right eye is missing in two consecutive scenes on the top of the train but is visible on his face throughout the movie both before and after these scenes on the train. Interestingly, the tattoo is an important identifying mark/symbol in the movie and is specifically highlighted by gang members when asking locals if they have seen Casper as they try to find him and hunt him down.

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Quotes

Sayra: Back home, my friend Clarissa made me see this crazy neighbor, Doña Eleanor, you know, like witchcraft? She smoked this puro, then told me with her freaky voice that I'd make it to the U.S. but not in God's hand, perhaps in the Devil's.

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Connections

Referenced in Ebert Presents: At the Movies: Episode #1.8 (2011)

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Soundtracks

En el Barrio Ya No Hay Gente
Written by Manuel Varet
Performed by Vakero
Courtesy of Sunflower Entertainment / Jeremy Records

User Reviews

A film of heartbreaking sadness but also one of joy and redemption

In Sin Nombre, first-time writer-director 31-year-old Cary Joji Fukanaga has crafted a uniquely moving film experience that dramatizes with authenticity the drive among the poor in Latin America to pull up roots and seek a better life in the U.S. Transcending genres and styles, Sin Nombre, translated "without a name", is performed by mostly non-professional local actors whose weathered faces mirror the harsh realities of their life. The film is shot by cinematographer Adriano Goldman with 35mm film rather than digital-video which is today's norm and avoids stylistic clichés such as hand-held cameras and dizzier-than-thou fast cutting.

Opening in Tapachula in the state of Chiapas in southern Mexico with a saturated color palette of deep red and orange, the trajectory of this low-budget, but beautifully shot thriller follows two parallel threads that meet in the middle. It begins with the initiation of a new member into the Mara Salvatrucha gang, in this case, a twelve year old boy called Smiley (Kristyan Ferrer) who has been recruited into the gang by young Willy aka Casper (Edgar Flores). Smiley must endure a gang ritual where he is thrown to the ground and kicked and beaten thirteen times to prove his toughness. As if that is not enough, the pre-teen is then forced to shoot a prisoner from the Chavalas, a rival gang.

Breaking the rules, Willy takes Smiley with him to meet his secret girlfriend Martha Marlene (Diana Garcia) but the clandestine meeting ends when sadistic gang leader, Lil' Mago (Tenoch Huerta Mejia) finds out about it and tries to rape her with tragic consequences. In the second thread, Sayra (Paulina Gaitan), a Honduran teenager is reunited with her father and decides to join him and her uncle on a perilous journey to New Jersey to meet other family members. In a powerful scene, they join other immigrants at a train crossing and then climb to the top of the railroad car of a passing train to begin the journey. One of the many dangers they face is that of being robbed by gangs or other poor Latinos who think they must have huge sums of money.

In this case, the robbers are Casper and Smiley who have been ordered to join Lil' Mago. When the leader tries to rape Sayra, however, Casper takes action which ensures that his future and that of Sayra will be inextricably linked. To reach the U.S., Sayra and Willy, now drawn together out of mutual need and attraction, have to overcome the network of covert operatives employed by the Mara gang, the danger of the border patrols, and the ordinary Mexicans who throw rocks at them and put their journey in peril. Powerful performances by Gaitan and Flores create an electric chemistry that wraps our hearts around their struggle to find release from their troubled past.

Winner of awards for directing and cinematography at Sundance, Sin Nombre has been attacked by some critics because it is a story about the truth of poor people's lives wrapped in a conventional framework. In my view, that is precisely what gives the film its strength. It is not an easy task for any immigrant who wants to make it to America, and Sin Nombre alerts us to the dangers as well as the opportunities. It succeeds not only as education but as theater, allowing the viewer not only to understand the perils illegal immigrants face but to relate emotionally to them as human beings.

Fukanaga was not a criminal or an immigrant but knows full well that the common thread existing among all people is that of being able to dream of a new day for themselves and the people they love. He spent two years doing research among the Mara Salvatrucha gang based in Mexico and Los Angeles, and in riding on the top of freight cars with Honduran and Salvadorean immigrants headed towards the U.S. border. The result is both deeply moving in its poetry and off-putting in its violence, a film of heartbreaking sadness but also one of joy and redemption, one of the best so far of 2009.

Details

Official Sites:

Official site [France] Official site [Japan]

Country:

Mexico

Language:

Spanish

Release Date:

17 April 2009 (USA)

Also Known As:

Sin Nombre

Filming Locations:

Torreón, Coahuíla, Mexico

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$81,446, 22 March 2009

Gross USA:

$2,536,665

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$5,102,705

Company Credits

Production Co:

Scion Films, Canana Films, Creando Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

96 min 96 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1