The Good: Decent acting, Interesting character work, Decent plot
The Bad: Lacking on "spark," Somewhat predictable
The Basics: Dark at points, Sin Nombre is a subtitled film which focuses on two young people trying to get to the United States and leave their pasts behind.
This review was originally written prior to the release of “Sin Nombre” and I truly liked the whole tone and where I was in my life when it was written. I have opted not to change the original text. Enjoy!
Tonight, I had the opportunity to go to a screening and I set myself up for another one tomorrow, but it meant driving rather abruptly from Upstate New York down to The City. Yes, New York is a whole state, not just New York City. And no matter how infrequently I go down to the City - I just went on a vacation there a week and a half ago with my fiance! - I always manage to forget just how bad the traffic is. As a result, I was squeezed into my screening late and I had the worst seat in the house. And yes, there is such a thing as a bad theater experience in New York City (the art theater the screening was in had water stains on the ceiling and mosquitoes which were biting me throughout.
I mention this because Sin Nombre is largely about journeys, both personal and physical. And even front row, far right in a theater where I was being bitten by mosquitoes after running five blocks in New York City, Sin Nombre was fully comprehensible, subtitles and all. One has the impression that director Cary Fukunaga is attempting to make a film that will be this year's Slumdog Millionaire (reviewed here!). And while Sin Nombre is a good movie, it was not terribly original either on the character or plot fronts. And while the acting was surprisingly good for a collection of performances by unknown actors (at least to American audiences), the movie still has an art house movie feel to it.
Sayra, a young woman from Guatemala, begins the harrowing hike north with her father and uncle. They are making the trek from Guatemala to New Jersey on foot and by jumping trains. As Sayra makes the trip, Casper, a member of La Mara gang, finds himself having sex with his secret girlfriend, Martha Marlen, while he is supposed to be out on patrol hunting members of a rival, encroaching gang, the Chavalas. Punished for lying about where he was, Casper and his kid brother, Smiley, are punished - beaten - by their gang brothers. As Sayra and her party cross into Mexico, Martha avoids being raped by La Mara's commander, El Turbino, and pays for her resistance with her life.
Casper, shocked, is sent with Smiley and El Turbino to pull a train job and as fate would have it is the very train Sayra and her party have leapt upon. When El Turbino begins to assault Sayra, Casper snaps and kills the gang leader. He sends Smiley away and as the train heads north, Sayra becomes protective of Casper and Casper works to renounce his gang heritage. Smiley returns to La Mara where El Sol has taken over as leader. Charged with killing Casper, Smiley begins a pursuit, aided by gang brothers the rest of his way. When Sayra begins to prioritize accompanying Casper over getting to New Jersey, it puts both young people in danger.
Sin Nombre literally means "Without Name," an irony meant to call attention to the nameless population of illegal immigrants in a film where almost everyone has more than one name. The next time one reads about Americans and their crazy obsession with guns, one needs to watch a foreign film like Sin Nombre to see how the sickness is not particularly American. The Latino (or Hispanic, the differentiation - not as a lack of cultural sensitivity, but rather changing standards and a lack of differentiation to those outside the culture(s) - is somewhat lost on me) gang situation uses guns and even makes guns using pipes. The only difference, it seems, is that in Latino gang movies they don't waste so many bullets.
This is a foreign film and for American audiences who missed Blood Diamond this covers much of the same ground, without recognizable actors and with less drugs and coercion. The reason Sin Nombre might resonate even less with American audiences is that, for those with a social conscience, Blood Diamond offered an actionable change that audiences could rise up and try to help solve the problem (i.e. stop purchasing diamonds and even risking them being conflict diamonds). What are audiences supposed to do when they witness gang violence two countries away? What are we supposed to do when we see kids joining gangs and earning guns by killing their way to positions of higher responsibility.
But what makes Sin Nombre worthwhile is that it is both entertaining - albeit in a nihilistic way - and informative. Somewhere, there are audiences of Americans who could learn about the problems of gang warfare in Latin America. For those of us who know the theory of how gangs work, Sin Nombre is still an eye-opener. First, the film truly is a character study and the levels of character exhibited in the movie are actually compelling. There are predictable elements; when Casper stands up for Sayra, it becomes obvious that she will get attached to him. But the film is not obsessed with that to the extent one might suspect. In fact, because the movie has to balance Casper and Sayra and Smiley's journeys, the relationship between Casper and Sayra manages to avoid some of the cliches.
Actually, the strength of Sin Nombre from the beginning (and what earns this 7 out of 10 film a four-star rating instead of a three) is that the characters are more dynamic than cliches, at least Willy (Casper). Sure, Smiley follows a terribly predictable gang arc and Sayra is largely a damsel in distress, but Casper, whose non-gang name is Willy, is the dynamic character who is a true original. More than simply being a film about Willy's redemptive arc, Casper illustrates from his first scenes a profound discomfort for what gang life actually is. Martha pays the price for his efforts to protect her and help keep her from the gang and that entire lifestyle. Moreover, as Smiley becomes initiated with the gang, Willy's discomfort is so evident that when Smiley is charged with his first kill - an ex-Chavala prisoner La Mara has captured - Casper is unable to guide his younger brother. So, when Willy stands up to El Turbino, it reads as very true. No matter who he was before the film began, his love for Martha is real and he works to protect her, even as he fails to protect Smiley from joining the lifestyle.
Smiley's character arc is, unfortunately, par for the course and illustrates perfectly gang life. Despite the differences in various gangs, the cultlike reinforcement of them is virtually identical. In La Mara, the gangs reinforce with tattoos, guns and even simple punishment and rewards; when Smiley and a gang member survive a gunfight together, another gang member who lost Casper, is relegated to the back seat of the car and Smiley gets to sit up front. Sin Nombre illustrates well the realities of gang life and the way that gangs act as a family for those who have nothing else.
This, obviously, is not an upper of a film.
One of the few problems with the film comes with continuity. When Willy rises up against the gang, Smiley is armed with a pipe gun which suddenly disappears. As well, Willy has a cel phone with a message from Martha that he is forced to give up to prevent La Mara from tracking him. The emotional resonance of surrendering that phone is mortgaged when he later comes out with a video camera that appears to have the same material on it.
What is astonishingly well done is the acting. Kristian Ferrer, who plays Smiley, is great for a young actor. So, for example, after Smiley is beaten up by the gang, Ferrer continues to have him move hunched over and clearly in pain for the next few scenes. Similarly, the two primary female leads, Paulina Gaitan and Diana Garcia, Sayra and Martha, respectively, give layered performances, despite the way their characters are treated at times.
The real star of Sin Nombre is Edgar Flores as Casper. The character has depth and Flores plays him with an appropriate amount of complexity. Flores is able to act with his eyes, acting just by portraying a disturbed sorrow while taking a drag on his cigarette. As much as viewers might want to hate Casper or believe in Willy, Flores makes him the character to watch.
Now on DVD, Sin Nombre includes deleted scenes which are no more cuddly than the main feature. As well, there is a full-length commentary track (in English) from the writer/director and producer and it is informative.
Sin Nombre is a socially-relevant, but imperfect film. Still, it is disturbing and informative and if one has an art house theater in their area, there is merit to taking this film in as opposed to just sitting through the next obvious blockbuster.
For other foreign language films, please check out my reviews of:
Volver
Strawberry And Chocolate
The Road Home
7/10
For other movies, please visit my Movies Index Page!
© 2012, 2009 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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