When seeking out romantic comedies, or movies where lots of
things explode, you can—and should—be picky. There are tons
of movies about grown men acting like retarded teenagers, for example,
and so it’s worth distinguishing between the slacker comedies Role
Models and Step Brothers, because one will make you laugh,
and the other will make you worry that you’ve lost the capacity for
experiencing joy.
But there are not enough movies like Sin Nombre—a film
that is simply worth seeing, sans nitpicking, due to the fact that it
fictionalizes an experience rarely caught on film: immigrating to the
United States.
Casper (Edgar Flores) is a member of the Mara Salvatrucha, a Central
American street gang. Casper occasionally sneaks away from his life of
violence to bed his beautiful girlfriend, but the Mara Salvatrucha is
made up of terrifying men who insist on absolute loyalty—so when
Casper’s double life is discovered, a vast and well-connected network
is mobilized against him. Casper’s only hope for survival is to join
the seemingly endless parade of emigrants looking north for a better
life, and on the way, he meets the solemn Sayra (Paulina Gaitan), with
whom he forms a quiet bond.
The plot here isn’t going to blow anyone away—it’s basically
The Outsiders, only the greasers have scary face tattoos (and
will rape and kill you). But Sin Nombre (which was a hit earlier
this year at Sundance, after being developed at the Sundance Institute)
has more to offer than a gangland plot. The visually immaculate film is
at its best when simply following its characters as they walk for days
through sweltering forests, or hitch a ride on the top of a train
heading for Texas, or huddle under tarps when it rains. These scenes
alone absolutely justify the existence of Sin Nombre:
Considering thousands of people annually risk their lives to come to
the US, it’s shocking there aren’t more movies about them.