SIN NOMBRE review by Gary Dean Murray

There are those people in the world who do not like films with sub-titles AKA foreign films. Some just shy away from reading while they watch a movie as if doing that much work somehow makes the experience just that much less. For those who feel that way, they miss out on some of the most important films of the year. They would miss out on a film like Sin Nombre.

The tale is two parallel stories that intersect on a train. Sayra (Paulina Gaitan) is a young teenager living in Honduras and wishing for a better life. The promise of that better life is across the continent and across border in New Jersey. Along with her estranged father and uncle, she takes a train hopping journey to a brighter future up in North America. Dad has started another family in America and wants to bring this daughter to them.

Willy AKA Casper (Edgar Flores) is a kid living in the hard streets of Tapachula Mexico. He's a member of the ghetto gang Mara, one that has no problem with killing. He recruits a new kid Smiley (Kristyan Ferrer) into the gang. Smiley is forced to kill a captured rival member for his initiation. The gang is run by a multi-tattooed wild man Lil' Mago (Tenoch Huerta Mejia) who treats his members with equal parts love and scorn.

Willy is in love with the beautiful Marta (Diana Garcia). He wants to keep their relationship a secret because he knows that what belongs to him also belongs to every other member of the gang. Sharing his lover with others is just not what he wants. Marta crashes the meeting of Mara and Lil' Mago wants a taste of this young lovely. Something bad happens which destroys the respect Willy has for his gang brothers.

Sayra and her family are waiting for a train in Tapachula to take them north. When it finally arrives, they all get on the top. So do Smiley, Willy and Lil' Mago. An altercation happens and Willy divests himself of Mara. With much reluctance, he teams up with Sayra's family on the trip to the Northern Border and out of Mexico. This is with the members of Mara on their tail. Yes it is a road trip film but one that works very well.

There are so many elements to applaud here, starting with the cast. It is almost perfect from every role, even down to the smallest. Paulina Gaitan is a heartbreakingly sad as Sayra. Her soulful dark eyes carry the weight of a morose life. This is a standard setting performance that the young woman delivers. The same things could be said of Tenoch Huerta Mejia as the gang leader. In this small role, he delivers a stunning performance almost to the degree that one doesn't think he's acting but playing out his real life. A stunning bit of work from a young man who shows some major acting chops.

This film would have never worked without the solid acting job from Edgar Flores as Willy. He is our most conflicted character and the heart of the piece. We feel his choices that are bad and worse, living a life without any way of betterment. He gives Willy a core and a spirit without making him less of a man.

Writer/director Cary Fukunaga has painted a world full of cruel beauty, where choices are never good. His characters all have a degree of honor, even when it is misplaced. He never relies on any fancy camera movements to tell his story, he just gives the actors a solid script and works magic without technical mechanisms.

This is a film that could easily be considered for Oscar consideration in 2010. I know that it is early, but rare films of such beauty are infrequent in today's whiz bang world. Films like Sin Nombre should be sought out and supported.

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