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There's great inherent drama in this tale of Central Americans
struggling to make their way to the United States, but
writer-director Cary Joji Fukunaga never amps it up. His tone is
so assured throughout, you'd never guess this is his feature
debut.
``Sin Nombre,'' which means ``nameless'' in Spanish, feels
authentic through and through. Fukunaga spent time riding the
same trains as these travelers, and the details of their
hardships find their way into the script with powerful
simplicity.
He follows two teenagers whose paths will cross on a train
track. Sayra (Paulina Gaitan) has reconnected with her estranged
father and decides to travel with him and her uncle north from
Honduras, across the river from Guatemala and up through Mexico
with the eventual destination of New Jersey. Meanwhile, Casper
(Edgar Flores), aka Willy, is establishing himself in the Mara
Salvatrucha gang of Tapachula, Mexico. He's also trying to hide
his steamy relationship with the beautiful Martha Marlene (Diana
Garcia), who will be viewed as a threat to the brotherhood.
When group leader Lil' Mago (the fearsome and elaborately
tattooed Tenoch Huerta Mejia) forces Casper and 12-year-old
recruit Smiley (Kristyan Ferrer) to help him rob the train Sayra
and her family are riding on, both teens find themselves thrown
together in greater danger than they ever were independently.
(Flores, who plays a Mexican, is Honduran, and Gaitan, who plays
a Honduran, is Mexican.)
The violence is harrowing (Martha Marlene's fate is especially
ugly) and Fukunaga doesn't shy away from the squalor that
permeates each rundown town that crops up along the train's
route. But he also mixes in some unexpectedly beautiful vistas
(the striking work of cinematographer Adriano Goldman), a brief
respite from the terrors that abound. The train is such a
formidable force, it's practically a character itself _ arriving
as it does in the dead of night, all dark rumbling and blinding
light, sending the immigrants scrambling to hop on, then hold on
precariously as they perch atop the roof.
Both lead actors nicely underplay their roles _ Gaitan has a
deceptively placid presence reminiscent of Catalina Sandino
Moreno in her breakthrough role in ``Maria Full of Grace'' _
while Huerta Mejia, as the Mara capo, provides a startling mix
of intimidation and charisma. As Smiley, the precocious Ferrer
is on the receiving end of some of the most brutal beatings upon
initiation to the gang, but he's also not afraid to dole out the
pain, too.
Fukunaga's characters don't always make the right decisions, but
they make believable ones in the heat of battle. With vivid,
unflinching details, he finds a new angle on a story of
sacrifice and peril you've heard countless times before.
``Sin Nombre,'' a Focus Features release, runs 95 minutes. Three
and a half stars out of four. |
