Sin nombre
Tags: violence, murder

Plot synopsis:
Willy, nicknamed El Casper, is a member of the Mara Salvatrucha gang and lives in Tapachula, a Mexican town near the border with Guatemala. He introduces a young boy into his gang, and the boy is given the nickname Smiley after a violent initiation. Casper later helps Smiley to complete this initiation by helping him execute a rival gang-member. Casper is romantically involved with a girl, Martha Marlen. Fearing for the girl's safety, he keeps the relationship a secret from his gang, but his double life causes his gang to doubt his loyalty. When Martha follows Casper to a gathering of his gang, the gang leader, Lil Mago, escorts her out, despite Casper's misgivings. Mago attempts to rape Martha and accidentally kills her. Later, he blithely tells Casper that he will find another.
Shortly afterward, Mago brings Casper and Smiley to La Bombilla, a location along the train tracks where potential illegal immigrants stow away on passing trains on their way to the United States. Among the immigrants is a Honduran family introduced earlier consisting of the teenage girl Sayra, her father, and her uncle, who are on their way to relatives in New Jersey. Lil Mago, Casper, and Smiley rob the passengers for any money they have until Lil Mago spots Sayra and attempts to rape her. Casper intervenes, killing Mago and then sending Smiley off.
Smiley goes back to the gang and reports about Mago's death. The new gang leader, El Sol, accuses Smiley of collusion, to which Smiley timidly protests and begs to be sent to kill Casper to prove his loyalty. El Sol agrees and Smiley travels north to track down Casper. On the train, the still shocked Casper is avoided by other passengers. When some try to throw him off the train, Sayra warns Casper and keeps on approaching him, despite her father's warnings. Casper's knowledge from previously smuggling gang members and avoiding the police proves useful, as he eludes his pursuers. He is finally accepted by Sayra's family but decides to leave the train while the others are sleeping. Unbeknownst to Casper, Sayra follows him off the train. Meanwhile, her father and uncle decide to continue the journey.
Traveling north on a car transport organized by a friend of Casper, Casper and Sayra barely escape a trap laid for them and enter an immigrant shelter, where Sayra sees a familiar face. She is informed that her father has died and her uncle has been caught. In disbelief, she rushes off to cry at the chapel, where Casper comforts her. They reach a river that constitutes the border to the United States. A coyote agrees to take them across one by one. Casper pays the man with his camera containing the cherished pictures of his murdered girlfriend and insists that Sayra go first. When she is halfway across, the gang appears and begins to chase Casper. Casper flees the pursuing gang but runs into Smiley, who shoots him once, then slowly two more times, the last of which in the head. This allows time for the others to catch up. They then all proceed to empty their magazines and clips into Casper in an execution style killing, while Sayra struggles to hold on to the raft and screams in horror.
The closing scenes show Sayra phoning her father's new family from outside an American mall, her uncle setting off on another attempt to cross the border, and Smiley getting his lip tattooed as a sign of his loyalty to the gang.

Review: The same people that after having spewed their vitriol, hatred and bile against immigrants have no problem with Juan mowing their lawn and Consuela looking after their snot-nosed mortally obese children, and Miguel picking-up all the s*it they leave in the streets, malls and every other place one can throw garbage in.Maybe, just maybe, watching this movie will at least give them a glimpse into the lives, backgrounds and destinies of these people, who are abused, mistreated and forgotten by almost everybody, people who basically have come to symbolize a type of disposable human garbage, that truly are without a face, an identity and "sin nombre", without name.
Then we could all come to realize that "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" are not exclusively American values, but rather universal values to which all people aspire to.Even amidst all the doom and gloom of the movie there are some sublime moments of beauty, humanity and yes even hope.
It is beautifully and realistically photographed and provides no-frills story telling.Director Cary Fukonaga throws the viewer into the middle of the brutally violent gang world at the same time he depicts the frightening desperation of Hondurans making their way through an unforgiving Mexico towards an unwelcoming United States.
Willy and Sayra are an odd couple, but seem good for each other, though their destiny seems obvious from the first moment.Some great footage of the inner workings of an ultra violent, macho world of gangs left me wondering how anyone could escape alive.
Directed by the young talent Cary Fukunaga, a winner of the Sundance Film Festival Directing award, the film focuses on a combination of issues in South America, from involvement of kids and teenagers in Mexican gangs to what it takes for those who decide to leave South and Central America and seek greener pastures in the U.S.The story follows two main characters, Casper and Sayra, played by lesser-known actors Edgar Flores and Paulina Gaitan.
While Casper is the member of the feared gang Mara Salvatrucha, his faith connects him with Sayra, a Honduran emigrant that travels with her father and uncle together with the other emigrants on a freight train to the U.S.On this journey together, as Casper tries to escape his faith and Sayra to meet hers, the main characters are slowly blending together, complete each other through their diversity, while they have to face the rough side of life in today's Mexico.As a result, the film has a gripping, disturbing, moving sour-sweet blend to it, and is exactly the type of the film where it's unpredictability, natural change of pace, and lots of eye candy in the scenery, makes you part of the story until the credits role, making you beg for more inside.Fukunaga's film feels so real not only thanks to his time spent in Mexico and his first hand experience with both, emigrants and immigrants he met before and while shooting the film, his cast of actual members of the Mara gang, perfect editing and combination of locations and the effort he took while filming to get the best out of his actors ("apart from beating them", he joked at Vary), makes the film one of the best feature debuts I've ever seen..
For a first film by Cary Fukunaga, it looks as if it's his 10th, showing no flaws, and with a cast of actors that do their characters amazing justice, Sin Nombre is a MUST SEE!.
In Sin Nombre, first-time writer-director 31-year-old Cary Joji Fukanaga has crafted a uniquely moving film experience that dramatizes with authenticity the drive among the poor in Latin America to pull up roots and seek a better life in the U.S. Transcending genres and styles, Sin Nombre, translated "without a name", is performed by mostly non-professional local actors whose weathered faces mirror the harsh realities of their life.
It begins with the initiation of a new member into the Mara Salvatrucha gang, in this case, a twelve year old boy called Smiley (Kristyan Ferrer) who has been recruited into the gang by young Willy aka Casper (Edgar Flores).
Powerful performances by Gaitan and Flores create an electric chemistry that wraps our hearts around their struggle to find release from their troubled past.Winner of awards for directing and cinematography at Sundance, Sin Nombre has been attacked by some critics because it is a story about the truth of poor people's lives wrapped in a conventional framework.
In the debut film from Cary Fukunaga, we see Mexico as a place that is not completely hopeless but, really, the people who want to get out and migrate to America have good reason.
And here Fukunaga takes inspiration from two sources (at least it's my impression he does): El Norte, the 1980's drama about immigrants crossing Mexico to LA, and Amores Perros, in part about the grungy and hard-violence life of gang members.Both stories are told with fascination, though if one is more compelling I might go with the story about the gangster who is in a group that is completely ruthless, inked and tattooed in specific markings (sometimes, as with the gang leader, all over their face), and have a really strict code in order to let in new people, like a young kid who wants in just because he has no place else to go.
A gripping story with beautiful cinematography and wonderful actors, Sin Nombre is the kind of movie that moves you and then stays with you long after you leave your seat.
This is a film described by one of its actors, Diana Garcia, as "tough and sweet at the same time." It's about gang violence in Central America (and one gang member in particular), the struggle of a family (along with many other immigrants) to cross the border into a better life, and a love story (all of which are intertwined).
After three viewings (the first in the theatrre) and a 3-month trip to Central America and Chiapas, where I heard about first-hand and saw with my own eyes the grim realities of torn-apart families and daily violence that are caused by the waves of immigration, drug trade and gang culture, this film still holds me firmly in its grip.The cinematography is absolutely stunning, perfectly capturing the differing landscapes the characters travel through (although, it turns out, most of it was not shot in the actual locations).Edgar Flores, who plays Willy/El Casper, is a relevation.
In a time when immigration is a very hot topic, Sin Nombre tells a story of two teens traveling to reach the United States and fleeing from a past of poverty and violence.
Stays With You. Sin Nombre is a Spanish film about gangsters, the harsh life of illegal immigrants and a tragic love story.
Sin Nombre is basically this year's City of God. A rather unknown film-maker makes an astounding drama from a third world country that entertains on all levels.One aspect of the movie revolves around a young gang member named Casper and his growing desires to leave his gang, La Mara, and it's domineering leader, Lil Mago.
After a moment of tragedy and an act of spite, Casper is on the run, he has nowhere to hide and he has the green light on him; it's go to kill.A young girl named Sayra begins a vast trek with her male family counterparts to reach New Jersey from Honduras.
In "Innocent Voices"(2004), 12 years boys in El Salvador are forced to enter the army; In "Maria Full of Grace" (2004), A Colombian girl becomes a drug mule; In "City of God" (2002), children become gang and drug dealers.And I saw more movies than before about people trying to escape from hopeless countries, not only Latin America, and to migrate to richer countries.This movie has all those elements (gang, lawlessness, murder, violence, drugs, illegal immigrants, child crimes) and adds a puppy love.So what is special in this movie?
The best movie that I have seen this year, Sin Nombre is a film about a teenage Honduran girl who is trying to make her way to New Jersey and the gang member that she befriends along the journey.The film is subtitled and has some extremely unsettling scenes coupled with moments of extreme gang violence.
As Sayra (Paulina Gaitan) and El Casper/Willy (Édgar Flores) fight to evade capture from both the border patrol and the gang members that are after El Casper for offing their leader in a moment of rage brought upon by the emotional forces after the murder of his girlfriend.Neither the ending nor the journey are predictable and the realism that is the environment brought upon society by gangs leads to some of the most engrossing film segments this year.
Whether is it a rival gang member being shot by a child and then his body parts being fed to a dog or a touching moment where Sayra and Willy share a quiet moment while hidden in a car being towed to a junk yard, Sin Nombre will grab you and not let go.Already a winner at this year's Sundance Film Festival, Sin Nombre is one to search out..
It really did have potential for something great, but it just ended up being a long, fairly uneventful and boring movie.The story is about a Family traveling across South America, riding on top of a cargo train, in an attempt to cross into USA to start a better life.
And it is also the story of a young man running from his violent gang past.While the story itself is interesting enough, it was just poorly executed on the screen- And the fact that the 92 minutes seemed like an eternity didn't really help the movie along."Sin Nombre" did have some fairly good acting performances, and for most parts the actors and actresses did good jobs with their roles.However, the movie lands a mediocre five out of ten stars rating from me, as it just didn't really entertain me..
Cary Fukunaga, a director out of the San Francisco area, makes his debut with this intense story of gang violence and illegal immigration to America.
Willy wants to leave the gang(the environment of it is captured to a T) he's in, and when he goes against it to rescue Sayra, a teenage girl on the way to America through Mexico(and we are shown the cruel reality of the situation for illegal immigrants), he has to run from them for his life.
In 'Sin Nombre' ("Nameless"), Cary Joji Fukanaga's first film, which he both wrote and directed, a doomed, romantic relationship develops between a boy who has broken away from an evil Mexican gang in Chiapas and a pretty girl ("A regular little Selma Hayek," someone calls her) from Honduras.
Then, there's nothing he can do but stay on the trip north, dodging La Migra and helping the Hondurans do so.Edgar Flores' perpetual tired, sad look and the more experienced Gaitan's resilient prettiness make them a cute tragic couple, though the story has to resort to a fortuneteller's prediction that she'd be saved on the journey by the Devil to explain how she gloms onto the doomed gang youth (the Salvatrucha features Satanic symbols0, even with increasing evidence that in fact that they're out to get him and he is a marked man for turning against them.
However, the simple tragic outline of this doomed romance is somewhat at odds with the vérité aspects of much that has gone before.Instead of dealing with the whole journey into LA or elsewhere like Gregory Nava's excellent 1983 El Norte, and showing what happens when the immigrants try to make a living in the US, 'Sin Nombre' gets rather hung up on its gang portrait, though still presenting only vignettes of that, and the bonding of Casper (now back to "Willy") and Sayra takes up so much time that the movie ends rather abruptly once someone makes it into the Estados Unidos.
Sin Nombre tells the story of an Honduran girl Sayra, played by Paulina Gaitan, that tries to better her life without future by trying to go to her family in New Jersey.
I really enjoyed how the film showed daily life in Central America, and how Spanish speaking peoples are affected by gangs.
The premise is simple and carries out throughout the movie like the train from the movie.The depicted violence wasn't that grotesque and was filmed in a way that doesn't make you feel uncomfortable, so it doesn't overpower the rest of the scenes.What makes it good is the cinematography, the likable main and side characters and the overall atmosphere.
In one side gangs and in the other proud people who try to escape from misery , poverty and seek their happiness in United states.This film has everything!Action , drama but the most important is that it makes you appreciate how lucky you are to have a PC and internet to write a review when the same time exist people who do not have a place to live and jeopardize their lifes for a better future away from their families away from their countries.
"Sin Nombre" is really the robust independent film focusing on two interconnecting story lines of: Willy "El Casper", a Mexican MS-13 Gang Member escaping the wrath of the gang he represents; and of Sayra, a simple Honduran teen looking to cross the border to meet up with family in New Jersey.
It is about a gang of kids from Honduras, Guatamala and Mexico trying to make their way to the U.S.The movie has lots of violence and bloody scenes where many people are shot and/or killed for little or no reason by a bunch of kids with guns.
With 'Sin Nombre' young director Cary Fukunaga shows great promise and if he keeps up with the level of making such quality films he is ready to join the best.
I didn't gave it more because of the Twilight-like love or attraction story, and the stupid way it all concluded.But I should say that the director did a great job, he really captured the personality and attitude of central Americans, its gangs, gangs credos, the hardships of the "Trip to America".This is a nice movie for MEXICANS to see how they ask for mercy in USA but as pure hypocrites they repudiate immigrants from central American countries like El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala and Nicaragua.The pace is too slow in some occasions, sometimes you wish they would develop more some characters, some of them are purely one-dimensional, they only exist to drive the story towards a forced conclusion..
Sin Nombre is director/writer Cary Fukunaga's first feature film that intertwines two very different stories together in a journey across Central America.
The depiction of gang life and poverty in SIN NOMBRE is so harrowing and sad, I think filmmaker Cary Fukunaga who's dealt with immigrant stories before, wanted the audience to understand that there's nothing easy about leaving their hometown, there's nothing easy about joining a gang so you can survive everyday, there's nothing easy either about entering foreign territory.
The intense gang violence completes the engaging drama of human spirit that tells us everything's going to be all right even when death is lurking around the corner.SIN NOMBRE is one of my favorite choices for this year's Best Foreign Language film.--Rama's SCREEN--.
In their quest to reach the land where they, and their families, can have a decent living, involves risks one cannot imagine, which is the message of this story that chronicles some of the dangers most people deal with in their pursuit of a dream to get a better life in what they perceive is the land of opportunities."Sin nombre" is a realistic film that examines some of the horrors most people encounter on their way North.
The local chapter at a town where the train passes through is an unexpected snag in the plans of Sayra and her family.To complicate things, the head of the gang, Mago, wants, and kills the girlfriend of one of the members of the Mara, Willy.
I thought it was interesting how the viewer is forced to feel sympathy for immigrants when watching, as it shows the reality and how sad this struggle is for people like Sayra and Casper.
Sin Nombre is an excellent movie choice for students looking to learn more about the struggles of immigrants and the overwhelming hold that Mexican gangs play in their communities.
From the violent role of Mexican gangs to the abuse of immigrants by locals, Sin Nombre is an excellent movie.
The film immerses you in the Mexican gang culture through the story of a La Mara gang member named Willy, or Él Casper.
I think that as an American myself I would've had Smiley join Willy and Sarya to escape the gang and in turn have a happy ending but overall I really enjoyed the movie..
Sin Nombre is a beautifully filmed movie that involves gangs and Immigration.
I think this film captured the unfortunate reality of the Mexican gang life as well as the danger of trying to travel from Central America to the American border.
Recently, I re-watched all five 'Saw' movies in preparation (and to review) of the forthcoming 'Saw VI' and the overall message of those films was "appreciate life." Yes, it would sound weird to compare that series with 'Sin Nombre,' however, both are gory/not for the light-hearted, and both gave me the same message.Despite the fact that immigrating to USA without proper documentation/procedures, etc, is illegal (I live in Arizona, so this is front page news 8 days a week), you actually want these lost souls to make it over.Casper is attempting to leave a violent gang (apparently not monitored by the authorities or policed in any way – kill at will) after a brutal "accident" and he's trailed by an innocent girl attempting to escape Mexico to join her family in New Jersey.
Sin Nombre is first-time feature director Cary Fukunaga's take on the world of illegal immigration in Latin America and Mexico as well as a behind-the-scenes look at Mexican gang culture.