Sin Nombre: Relevant, Intense, Heart-Wrenching
Sin Nombre is the best film I’ve seen in a long time. It’s also the first Spanish-language movie I watched without subtitles. They weren’t available at the pirated DVD market where I bought the disc. Fortunately I had no trouble understanding.
SPOILERS DISCLAIMER – mad spoilers follow.
If you don’t need a plot summary, jump to the analysis below.
The film starts by introducing us to Casper, a member of the Mara Salvatrucha gang (MS-13), in Tapachula, Mexico. Then we meet Casper’s young friend, Smiley, who couldn’t be older than 12. Casper takes Smiley to his MS-13 initiation, a 13-second beat-down from the gang. We also meet gang leader Lil’ Mago, who it’s worthy of mention is covered with tattoos, a prominent MS drawn from above both temples all the way down to his jaw-line and chin.
Then we flash to Tegucigalpa, Honduras, to meet the beautiful Sayra. Sayra meets her father for the first time in what’s implied to be a long time or maybe ever. She’s to join him and his brother on a journey to the United States, from where the father had just been deported. He wants Sayra to join his new family in New Jersey.
Next we see Casper visit his girlfriend, Martha Marlene, at her place for a textbook example of a Latin love session. After the loving, Casper takes Smiley to the gang hideout where, under Lil’ Mago’s direction, Casper helps Smiley execute a rival gang member to complete his initiation. (Then they feed the deceased to dogs!)
The plot develops two storylines: the first being Sayra’s resentment toward the father she never knew, who she believes never would’ve returned for her if he weren’t deported; the second being Casper’s neglecting his responsibilities to the gang because he’s spending more and more time with Martha Marlene. She’s increasingly angry with him because she feels he’s hiding something from her, which he is in trying to keep her separated from his gang life. In fact, she knows him as Willy instead of his gang name, Casper.
The latter conflict culminates when Martha Marlene crashes a gang meeting in a cemetery in which Casper (Willy) is about to be disciplined for neglecting his duties. Willy tries to escort her out of there, but Lil’ Mago overrules. He insists on showing her out while Willy gets his 13-second stomping. Away from the gang, Lil’ Mago tries to have sex with Martha Marlene, citing ‘generosity’ as a crucial element of friendship. When she refuses, he tries to rape her. In the struggle, he accidentally kills her. Casper has to accept it because Lil’ Mago is the boss and devotion to Mara Salvatrucha trumps all else.
This particular MS-13 “clique” earns much of its income from the Bombilla, the train station in Tapachula which sits on the border with Guatemala. All the Central Americans migrating to the US pass through the Bombilla to jump on trains headed north to the Texas border. The local MS-13 gang robs the migrants on their way north.
Lil’ Mago had Casper and Smiley accompany him for one of these robbery trips. So the three are on top of the train, robbing each and every passenger for everything they have when Lil’ Mago comes across the beautiful Honduran, Sayra. He gropes her and forces her down in what appears to be an imminent rape. Casper, still not over the loss of his love at the hands of Lil’ Mago, and watching him unleash on another innocent girl, whacks him with his machete, cutting through half his neck.
Lil’ Mago falls from the train dead and Casper orders Smiley off. Here the main plot has developed. Sayra feels indebted and befriends Willy (he’s not ‘Casper’ anymore). Smiley goes back to the gang and tells them what happened. They order Willy killed and appoint Smiley to do it, along with everybody else in their clique plus the others all along the train route, throughout Mexico and the US.
So Willy’s been marked for death by the largest gang in the Western Hemisphere. Noting Sayra’s growing attachment to him, Willy jumps from the train as everyone’s sleeping but she awakes and jumps after him, leaving her father and uncle behind. Willy then resolves to go for life redemption by helping Sayra safely cross the border into the States. There’s action, there’s hope, there’s sadness, there’s beautiful (and ugly) Mexican culture and countryside, and there’s stimulating footage of MS-13 culture.
Just as Willy sends Sayra swimming across the Rio Grande, waiting his own turn, the gang appears and guns him down on the riverbank. Smiley scores the first shots. The final scenes show Sayra at a Texas Sam’s Club calling her dead father’s family in New Jersey (her dad died after they split up), her uncle starting a new attempt to cross the border from Guatemala into Mexico, and Smiley getting “MS” tattooed inside his lower lip.
Powerful shit!
I’m going to start with a few petty gripes, specifically the film clichés.
I don’t know about you, but I am burnt out on the accidental death via head-hitting-the-rock-or-metal-bar-or-whatever. Martha Marlene died after Lil’ Mago kicked her in the ass, sending her head into a rock. I’m tired of that shit! I attribute that to laziness or lack of nerve on the part of the writer. If you can’t create a motivation to kill her intentionally, don’t go to the tired-ass playbook. Maybe he could’ve successfully raped her, admonished Casper (Willy) for not sharing, and then she commits suicide. Anything but the head-accidentally-hitting-the-rock bit.
Aside from the scene where he helps Smiley execute a ‘chavala’ begging for mercy, Casper’s never seen as the vicious gangster he must’ve been to have a career with MS-13. He didn’t pistol-whip anybody on the train, or rape or rob anybody for the whole film. Granted, his transformation may have started long before in his falling in love with Martha Marlene, but it was still too sympathetic in the marked contrast between his innocent white face and the viciousness of the other MS-13 gangsters.
It turns out I only have two gripes and one kudos to give regarding happy endings. American films (which this is), Hollywood, and American audiences are incredibly biased toward happy endings. When I first heard of this film, I read all about it and I could’ve sworn I read that Casper (Willy) arrives safely in the US. The sad ending made it a better film.
Mara Salvatrucha
Many may not know, but MS-13 is the largest gang in the United States. It started in a Central American section of Los Angeles to protect Salvadorans from Mexican and black gangs. It’s since exploded to also include Mexicans with chapters in the United States, Mexico, Central America, and Canada. They’re known for their tattoos. There are a dozen or so MS-13 videos on YouTube, some featuring MS-13 music.
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Immigration & human rights
I’ve stated my support of immigration in this blog before, but the images and visualization of the reality facing migrant workers in this film re-awakened my interest in the cause. The human rights issues and violence along the US-Mexico border is horrific. Girls are forced into prostitution; gangsterism thrives. What is the fucking point???
All these people want to do is work in America, the land of opportunity. Their own countries were flawed in their design so the same opportunity doesn’t exist. Migrants’ big mistake in life was being born on the wrong side of the border, to a family in the wrong social class. I’ve known many illegal immigrants and I admire their work ethic. And I’ve known a lot of lazy and incompetent Americans who live luxurious lives in comparison simply because they were born on the other side.
Last year I read Ben Casnocha argue immigration is a solution to poverty. In that post, he mentions the idea of “free movement of people” among countries. I’m pro-immigration, but I wasn’t eager to jump on board when I first read that. Now I’m more receptive. There’s rarely reform without an extreme position underneath. If free movement of people among nations seems extreme to you, it doesn’t to me.
Why should I have free reign to move wherever I want in Latin America to reap the fruits of these countries using my gringo-ness, my native English, my height and blue eyes, my American education, etc., while Latinos born on the bottom in these countries can’t do the same in my country?
I’ll now count myself among the extreme camp of free movement of peoples among nations. I’d love for it to be a regulated process of accountability, but I’m in the camp regardless. Michael Clemens is the most outspoken advocate and dedicated researcher for this position.
Love in Latin America
Having written extensively about Love in Latin America, I’m not covering new ground here. But the film captured that aspect perfectly.
I was sad as fuck watching Sin Nombre. Despite the few clichés, the film established credibility with me in its depiction of Willy’s and Martha Marlene’s relationship. Their first scene in her bedroom goes exactly as I’ve found love to go down here. She slapped him. They made love. She accused him of cheating and threatened to cut his penis off. They cuddled and professed eternal love. Despite her getting angry with him in other scenes over ‘disowning’ her (kinda difficult to translate “desconocer”), the chemistry and time spent together made me long to be in love again.
Edgar Flores stars as Willy, and he was excellent in the role. Willy’s love for Martha Marlene was convincing; I could feel his pain when his gang killed that love – the same gang Willy defended his whole life. And just as it seemed he might have love with Sayra, the gang killed him too. I look forward to more of Flores’ acting.
Foreshadowing and magic realism
Magic realism is prevalent in Latin film and literature, but not so much in Sin Nombre. However, Sayra always alludes to an old witch in her neighborhood who predicted she wouldn’t arrive in the States in the arms of God, but The Devil. I’d call that magic realism and also foreshadowing, which is prevalent throughout. Willy consistently warns Sayra that he’s a dead man, which proves correct. And in a great foreshadowing scene, Willy and Sayra come across MS-13 graffiti that reads something like “Lil’ Mago – don’t worry, El Casper won’t pass…”
Notes:
- Machetes – Willy killed Lil’ Mago with a machete, which was pretty bad-ass. The use of the machete in Latin America is under-represented in film.
- Mexican / Central American gangsters and face tattoos (politically-incorrect warning) – The older I get, the more I err on the side of genetics over upbringing, nature over nurture. In his autobiography, Malcolm X says whites are correct in believing blacks are born with dancing in their blood, and there are dozens of other cases like the higher per capita rate of AA meetings in Irish neighborhoods. In looking at the images of MS-13 gangsters, I couldn’t help thinking they look like the Indians from Apocalypto. Is it in the genetic DNA dating back to the Mayans and Aztecs to paint their faces up and kill? Look at some of those MS-13 videos on YouTube to see what I mean.
- The film was produced by Gael Garcia Bernal (Motorcycle Diaries) and Diego Luna (Milk), who co-starred as best friends in Y Tu Mama Tambien, another kick-ass film set in Mexico.
- Sin Nombre won Sundance Film Festival awards for directing and cinematography (Director Cary Joji Fukunaga and Cinematographer Adriano Goldman). The film wasn’t nominated for any Academy Awards because the Oscars suck shit.
- The Sin Nombre soundtrack only features the score, but the songs from the film are great. Check these out:
Dick el Demasiado – Flaca de las Coloradas
Vakero – Ya No Hay Gente
Amandititita – Mecánico
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2 Responses to “Sin Nombre: Relevant, Intense, Heart-Wrenching”
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haven’t seen the film, no la vi, but i guess it’s good. Thanks for mentioning the song. I enjoy the fact that a song can carry on it’s life through different media and worlds. Suddenly youtube-clips are made with chicano esthetics, graffiti, handgestures, gangho-looks. Chaau, saludos a todos y mentes libres.
I couldn’t disagree with you more…..Nah just kidding.
This movie was pretty good. Great cinematography, fast paced plot, and very….magic realism, is that what you used?
I loved the irony at the end with Smiley pulling the trigger. Begs the question for more detail on their relationship before Smiley’s 13 count.