Sin Nombre Review

Posted by Erik Luers on 05.06.2009

A refreshing, energetic entry in the Spring movie season......


Felipe Castro ... Sixto Felipe Castro
Rosalba Quintana Cruz ... Tierra Blanca Mujer
Marcela Feregrino ... Kimberly
Kristian Ferrer ... El Smiley
Edgar Flores ... Willy / El Casper
Giovanni Florido ... El Sipe
Paulina Gaitan ... Sayra






Last weekend I spoke with an NYU student who happened to be in a fraternity — or is it a sorority? Yes, Wikipedia tells me that women are in sororities. Tomato, tamato — and she discussed with me what she truly enjoyed about being in one. She was from Atlanta and didn't have many close friends in New York City. She liked going to places in Manhattan and being recognized. She wanted to have a group, a safety net perhaps, that she could rely on when in need. Okay, I thought to myself, that sounds plausible. She then told me that a lot of these groups liked to stick to "their own kind", and that they rarely conversed or hung out with students that had ties to other groups. Warning sign, Erik. This way of thinking seemed a little too closed off from the rest of the Big Apple to be taken very seriously. Why would people want to live like that? Well, I guess because of the numerous reasons she listed above. Sorry. I just feared that the tight knit group may be wrapped too tightly to keep the circulation going for very long.

The next day, I saw two films, Derick Martini and Steven Martini's Lymelife and Cary Fukunaga's Sin Nombre. If you were to tell me that one of these films were produced by Martin Scorsese, I would have guessed the latter. I would have been wrong (if I were a betting man, I would've lost my house keys by now). Sin Nombre is violent, brutal, poignant, and visually beautiful; Scorsese traits in spades. And yet, what I got most out of it was its uncompromising sense of family and community. On one side, we have a loving group (two men and a young teenage girl, Sayra), determined to make the long trip to the land of opportunity, the United States of America, via long walks, train rides, and swims across various rivers. On the other side we have a terrifying gang that instills fear instead of love. There are men and boys (Casper and Smiley are two examples), husbands and wives, and mothers and fathers. They murder to prove their undying unity to their group, and it is either the gang or death.

Again I found myself asking, why would anyone want to be part of a group that seems to cut themselves off from the rest of the world. For a sense of community? Maybe that girl I met had a point. Don't get me wrong. I'm not comparing my two examples to one another, but just trying to provide some food for thought. The people in Sin Nombre are put up against terrifying circumstances (at one point, the two stories interlock as Casper and his bloodthirsty leader rob the poor travelers a top a passing train), and it is how they deal with them that makes them who they are. Casper is a good person at heart, but he has committed one too many sins to be able to run free. When he gives in to his murderous side on top of this train, we are unsure if we should feel relieved or concerned for his impending fate. Those that live by the sword, die by the sword, and never was that saying more profound than it is here. We feel for Casper because even though he has blood on his young hands, we are lead to believe he never had a fair shot at anything else.

Let's look at Smiley for further proof of this. Here is a young boy who wants to fit in with the big boys (we see his concerned grandmother at the beginning of the film, but his parents are out of the picture), and he will do anything to play with the higher ups. He sacrifices his body and shoots men dead in cold blood, all for this perverse, potentially damaging bond. Several times throughout the piece, the older men beat Smiley up and question his loyalty. Rather than run, Smiley aims to prove himself. One could say that this gives new meaning to the term, "self damaging relationship."

I wonder how Smiley will feel when he hits puberty; it is the ever tempting opposite sex that gets Casper into trouble. It's awful seeing young, innocent children get brought into a lifestyle as terrible as this (when we see a newborn infant on the lap of the tattooed leader, we realize that his fate has already been predetermined), and I remembered that scene in Fernando Meirelles' City of God where one child was forced to shoot another child in the foot. The pain in that boy's eyes said it all.

And then there is Sayra, a young girl that is frightened and unsure about her future, but always determined nonetheless. America is a mystery to her and yet, she knows she must go on. When she comes across Casper, Sayra is smitten with the conflicted gang member, and we know that nothing good can come from her fascination. Fukunaga proves us wrong. Sin Nombre may also be a film about youth — one boy is brought into violence, one wants out, and one girl from neither side is attracted to a sense of safety (or is it danger?). That she winds up putting herself in more danger by siding with Casper says more about her inexperience as an adult than for her intelligence. She is naive, and so is the young Smiley. Only Casper understands the harshness of the lifestyle and, well, they are already hard at work digging his grave.

Now, on a more upbeat note, Fukunaga's film is filled with beautiful images, starting with the opening shot of a wallpaper displaying an orange forest in the midst of fall. Its brightness will strike you. The movie has a very warm visual feeling throughout as the sun beams down on the overheated travelers we follow. They are tired and beat, and many times, Fukunaga and cinematographer Adriano Goldman use natural lighting to give off this effect. As the travelers get robbed on the train, the sun almost seems to be serving as a second antagonist, and that's an impressive achievement to credit Fukunaga and company with. Combine this with all the running the characters and you may feel a little dehydrated by the time the film comes to a close.

If the film has a few flaws (and I suppose it does), perhaps it's that we've seen this story before, and somewhat frequently at that. We unwillingly compare it to other films that evoke a similar grittiness (Slumdog Millionaire, although a good film, doesn't come close to the intensity of this piece), and that may provide the viewers with mixed feelings with what they see in front of them. The story develops into a standard chase movie that's conventions we are all too familiar with (The Fugitive springs to mind as an example of the genre), and some moments we can see coming. Predictability doesn't always have to be considered a bad thing in moviemaking — as viewers, we have certain expectations and are delighted when they are met (but damn if it doesn't feel better when they are exceeded) — but I felt it was worth mentioning. Some of the story elements have been done before, but perhaps never in this way. Fukunaga's characters give us something new, something fresh.

I am wholeheartedly recommending Sin Nombre, a very real tale of gang violence and the journey to escape it, for its unflinching, honest brutality. There is a scene which features an attempted rape and the outcome is as disgusting as it should be. It is a tough film which I found very rewarding, and hopefully it will find its audience in the near future. It's certainly better than a lot of things playing in theaters at the moment. And now I wonder if that girl I spoke to is ever going to see this film, as I'd be interested in what she'd have to say. I think she'd like it.

The 411: Sin Nombre is a very good film that surprised me with its elegant visual tone. It's very brutal and yet beautiful to look at, and it has a nice (if somewhat conventional) dramatic structure. Fukunaga is quite a talent. So far, it's one of the best films I've seen this year, and I urge everyone to seek it out in the coming weeks. Actually, go see it now. You won't leave the theater disappointed.

Final Score:  8.0   [ Very Good ]