Sin nombre

I saw this beautifully crafted new film at Sundance and was completely entranced. The cinematography and design is astounding. The new faces and local actors give everything for the project. The writer/director did an extensive amount of research including riding on the tops of trains with immigrants crossing Mexico, and spending time with MS gang members. And indeed the film is full of all kinds of personal, empirical moments that reach up and contrast the violence and epic quality of the piece. Ultimately the film has a very classical quality that evokes an "Odyssey" kind of timelessness. Everyone should go see this in the theatres the moment it comes out. Great, great first film.

This movie rocked. I would definitely recommend seeing it, especially on the big screen: the cinematography is incredible. The film manages to teach you something about the world, expose you to an underworld you (well, at least I) had no idea existed, bring up some important social issues, all while keeping you on the edge of your seat. Some highlights included stunts on trains, some crazy home-made guns, and amazing tattoos. The acting was also very good -- especially considering several of the cast had no real acting experience. The audience I saw it with loved it -- it got some great gasps and even some big laughs. And all by a first-time director. Well done.

Directed by the young talent Cary Fukunaga, a winner of the Sundance Film Festival Directing award, the film focuses on a combination of issues in South America, from involvement of kids and teenagers in Mexican gangs to what it takes for those who decide to leave South and Central America and seek greener pastures in the U.S.

The story follows two main characters, Casper and Sayra, played by lesser-known actors Edgar Flores and Paulina Gaitan. While Casper is the member of the feared gang Mara Salvatrucha, his faith connects him with Sayra, a Honduran emigrant that travels with her father and uncle together with the other emigrants on a freight train to the U.S.

On this journey together, as Casper tries to escape his faith and Sayra to meet hers, the main characters are slowly blending together, complete each other through their diversity, while they have to face the rough side of life in today's Mexico.

As a result, the film has a gripping, disturbing, moving sour-sweet blend to it, and is exactly the type of the film where it's unpredictability, natural change of pace, and lots of eye candy in the scenery, makes you part of the story until the credits role, making you beg for more inside.

Fukunaga's film feels so real not only thanks to his time spent in Mexico and his first hand experience with both, emigrants and immigrants he met before and while shooting the film, his cast of actual members of the Mara gang, perfect editing and combination of locations and the effort he took while filming to get the best out of his actors ("apart from beating them", he joked at Vary), makes the film one of the best feature debuts I've ever seen.

Let's be clear from the outset, this is a dark, bleak and violent movie. The episodes in-between the on-screen savagery, consist of a lot of regret, anxiety and a deep, deep sadness.

Having said that, I also think that this is one of the most important movies I have seen in quite awhile, buried unfortunately amidst the clutter of beginning-of-the-year garbage releases and the upcoming summer blockbusters. I wish this movie had a much higher profile, in fact I think that this movie should be required viewing in high-schools all across the US and Canada.

It should also be seen by all those people who think about immigrants as a pest and as parasites who come to take away their jobs and be a drain on their resources, abusing the social system or whatever. The same people who watch Lou Dobbs and his "one man crusade" to save America from the invading plague of illegals. The minute-men who gleefully think that the wall now separating the US from Mexico is the greatest thing since the pyramids. The same people that after having spewed their vitriol, hatred and bile against immigrants have no problem with Juan mowing their lawn and Consuela looking after their snot-nosed mortally obese children, and Miguel picking-up all the s*it they leave in the streets, malls and every other place one can throw garbage in.

Maybe, just maybe, watching this movie will at least give them a glimpse into the lives, backgrounds and destinies of these people, who are abused, mistreated and forgotten by almost everybody, people who basically have come to symbolize a type of disposable human garbage, that truly are without a face, an identity and "sin nombre", without name. Perhaps we could all come to understand what it is that drives these waves of humanity to risk it all for even the promise of a better future. Then we could all come to realize that "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" are not exclusively American values, but rather universal values to which all people aspire to.

Even amidst all the doom and gloom of the movie there are some sublime moments of beauty, humanity and yes even hope. It was quite hard at times for me to watch this movie, not because of what I saw, but because I can relate to what I saw and be reminded of a time in my life I wish I could forget, but know I can't. It will be part of me until the day I die. I want people to learn and understand instead of being so quick to judge and dismiss the plight of other fellow human beings.

WHAT WOULD YOU DO IF THE SITUATION WAS REVERSED?

I previously said the two best movies of 2009 thus far are "Sunshine Cleaning" and "State of Play". But this newest entry, "Sin Nombre", makes me move this one into the top spot, easily. It is a meaningful contemporary statement made by a writer/director newcomer with guts.

The story(ies) begin in Honduras, a bit later on in Mexico. We first meet Sayra (Paulina Gaitan), who is to accompany her father from Honduras to America – their sights are set on New Jersey. Sayra has not seen her father in a long time, so theirs is an uneasy alliance. He shows her a crudely drawn map, and he traces their route; theirs is a long journey.

We next meet Casper (aka Willy – played by Edgar Flores), a member of a Mexican gang from whom he is hiding his girlfriend; he lies to the gang leader about his whereabouts, but this fearsome leader has his suspicions. We also meet Smiley (Kristian Ferrer) who has just been initiated into the gang. Both Casper and Smiley are put to an additional test to prove their loyalty. They are now thoroughly enmeshed in a world of violence and considerable darkness. This is an edgy world, one in which the overwhelming sensation is constant threat.

Eventually the two separate threads become entwined – both Casper and Smiley have headed north on a train headed north through Mexico, and Sayra and her father have climbed aboard the same train. How all these characters meet and how their itineraries merge is the heart of the narrative.

The shots of train yards and of the illegal train passengers enroute – sitting on top of cars mostly - are very engaging and have a authentic look. The cinematography in the movie is terrific. There are great shots of border crossings and always the trains. According to director Cary Fukunaga the train scenes were difficult to shoot (http://www.popmatters.com):

"We had to maximize those few days we could actually shoot on a train to make it all real," Fukunaga says. "We ended up building a prop train on flatbed trailers, pulling them on country roads around Mexico. You use extras on the set to block the horizon line. If they're in the way, you can't see how far the train goes off into the distance. Definitely something they don't teach you in film school."

All really good movies have a surprise, and there is one here that made me lean forward as if I could see a little better; it was a case of - Did I just see what I think I saw? And that reminds me that this was the first picture in a long time where people walked out fairly early on. That always makes me wonder what a movie about gangsters would have attracted them in the first place.

I am reminded of "City of God" and "Amores Perros", two films that also portray the darker sides of Central America. For anyone needing a fix of smart storytelling with social commentary woven throughout should seek this one out. This is my favorite kind of movie, one where the director leads you through a shadowy other-world full of realistic characters and situations.

Four stars.