Sin Nombre
SIN NOMBRE, a Latin-American film by Swedish Japanese Californian debut director Cary Fukunaga, steps out from the expectations and shadows of prevailing films from Latin America. This is not to suggest that SIN NOMBRE is original or even better than its forbearers, but where the predecessors churned with riotous and furious energy, SIN NOMBRE is engulfing and a riveting change.
The film's title means "nameless", referring to the ghost-like status of migrants. A central concept that feeds into the stories of the lead characters, Honduran teenager Sayra (Paulina Gaitan) and gang member Casper (Edgar Flores), which are initially separate but are both connected on the long dangerous journey onto of the train carriages; a journey that many Central Americans take to reach the United States. Without giving too much away, both characters seeking a bid for an escape, albeit for different reasons.
Fukunaga's directorial debut is commendable, but the paper-thin script lacks the care, authenticity and work he has put into the evocative cinematography, which is often frustrating because the script doesn't know whether it wants to be a docudrama, a love story or a gangster movie. With such a diverse subject matter, including immigration, gang cult and innocence corrupted, Fukunaga stretches the script and tries to do too much with too little. The romantic plot between Sayra and Casper is lazy, unnecessarily sentimental and a means to gain audience empathy, which often distracts from the script’s underlying politico-economic significance and social commentary. A great shame as the other brief underlying stories is more captivating and would have proven more appealing than the love story.
Due to the script's lack of depth, there is an indifference towards the lead characters, but not necessarily towards the performance of these young unknown actors. Of the two breakthrough actors, it is Edgar Flores's performance of Casper that essentially carries the film with a paced, understated and organic performance that glimpses into a real sense of desperation and inevitability. While Paulina Gaitan's performance as Sayra is noteworthy, however, Sayra's story often feels subordinate to Casper's when it is supposed to be equal.
The faults of the script shouldn't detract from Fukunaga's success – he has an unflinching eye for visual richness – and his willingness to push himself; he went through the same train journey as depicted in the film to gain both (and add) a visual and literal experience to the film, which at times works successfully – none other when children throw stones at the train and chanting "immigrants" to those fleeing from Central American and the crowd of people squatting on the roofs of the carriages. Fukunaga has deft ability to juxtapose the truly grim reality and fate of these characters with the beauty of the Central American scenery; all a testament to realism that Cary looks for and insists – shame that this obsessive research doesn't pay 100% dividends.
SIN NOMBRE doesn't add anything new to what we already know about the violence, desperation or harrowing truth about Latin-American lives, but it is a peeking and universally uncomfortable insight into immigration and migrants alike. SIN NOMBRE is not CITY OF GOD and neither does it try to be, and that is its success. This quiet film, worthy of its accolades from Sundance and Edinburgh festivals, makes for uncomfortable food for thought, but certainly worthy of your time.
