‘Sin Nombre’ handles gritty, in-your-face subjects very well

Published 8:58 pm Thursday, April 9, 2009

Two unhappy subjects — illegal immigration and gang violence — collide in “Sin Nombre,” a breathless story that spans the north-south length of Mexico. This movie makes you really feel that distance.

U.S. director Cary Joji Fukunaga leaves aside the gritty, pseudo-documentary approach you might expect for this subject. “Sin Nombre” is, if anything, a little too polished in its storytelling style.

But the story is potent. In the wretched jungle of a train yard in Chiapas, Mexico, two young people are about to hop the train north, along with dozens of others hoping to make the U.S. border.

One is Sayra (Paulina Gaitan), a Honduran girl hoping to reconnect with her family in Texas. The other is El Casper, also known as Willy (Edgar Flores), whose recent initiation into the wide-reaching Mara Salvatrucha gang we have watched in the opening minutes.

The creepiness and violence of the gang’s hazing rites are in direct proportion to how badly the disenfranchised young people want to join it. We don’t get much background on the history or impact of the Mara Salvatrucha in “Sin Nombre,” but there’s enough to curdle the blood.

On the other hand, it’s possible that the macho posturing of the tattooed higher-ups in the gang will simply serve, like Al Pacino’s mountain of coke in “Scarface,” as an image of the appeal of being in a gang — right down to the practice of feeding enemies to the dogs.

As they ride northward on top of the railcars, Willy undergoes a dramatic shift, and the fortunes of the travelers change. We might not entirely understand why Sayra is drawn to Willy (she’s supposed to be traveling with a couple of capable male relatives), but it could be the simple evolutionary instinct to bond with the person most likely to help her survive the trip.

At times, “Sin Nombre” feels like an enormous amount of very sincere research pasted together with the most basic sorts of movie conventions. Not unlike “Maria Full of Grace,” it paints its story in broad brushstrokes, not leaving much to the imagination.

What makes it recommendable is the very believable, committed cast and the sometimes stunning photography — especially the dramas that unfold on top of a moving train. The way this connects the damaged lives traveling northward to the unspoiled beauty of the land is one of the strengths of this picture, and something that will stay with you.