Sin Nombre Information

Sin Nombre is a 2009 U.S.-Mexican adventure thriller film written and directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga, about a Honduran girl trying to immigrate to the U.S.A, and a boy caught up in the violence of gang life who also needs to escape.

Filmed in Spanish, the film's title means "Nameless". It won several awards, including the prizes for directing and cinematography at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival.

Plot

Willy, nicknamed El Casper, is a member of the Mara Salvatrucha gang and lives in Tapachula, Chiapas, Mexico. 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 undocumented immigrants stow away on passing trains on their way to the United States. Among the undocumented 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 a U.S. 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.

Cast

• Edgar Flores as Willy ("El Casper")
• Kristyan Ferrer as Benito ("El Smiley")
• Paulina Gaitn as Sayra
• Tenoch Huerta Meja as Lil Mago
• Diana Garca as Martha Marlene
• Hctor Jimnez as Wounded Man / Leche
• Gerardo Taracena as Horacio
• Luis Fernando Pea as El Sol

Production

The film was mostly shot in Mexico City. Locations were found there resembling as closely as possible Tegucigalpa and the train station in Tapachula.

The film was also shot in Torren, Coahuila, Mexico. Several of the extras used in the film were actual migrants. Fukunaga said of working with them, "I didn't have to tell them anything - they know how to sit on top of a train."

The executive producers included Diego Luna and Gael Garca Bernal.

Reception

The film currently holds an 89% "fresh" rating on the review website Rotten Tomatoes; the consensus states: "Part harrowing immigration tale, part gangster story, this debut by writer/director Cary Fukunaga is sensitive, insightful and deeply authentic." On Metacritic, the film has a 77/100 rating, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

Awards

Awards
Award	Category	Recipient(s)	Outcome
Austin Film Critics Association Awards	Best Foreign Language Film
British Independent Film Awards 2009	Best Foreign Film
Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards	Best Foreign Language Film
Chicago Film Critics Association Awards
	Best Foreign Language Film
	Most Promising Filmmaker	Cary Joji Fukunaga
Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Awards	Best Foreign Language Film
Deauville American Film Festival	Jury Prize (tied)
EDA [Alliance of Women Film Journalists] Award	Best Non-English-Language Film
2009 Edinburgh International Film Festival	Skillset New Directors Award	Cary Joji Fukunaga
Indiana Film Journalists Association Award	Best Foreign Language Film
Spirit Awards
	Best Feature
	Best Director	Cary Joji Fukunaga
	Best Cinematography	Adriano Goldman
2009 Sundance Film Festival Awards (U.S. Dramatic Competition)
	Directing Award	Cary Joji Fukunaga
	Excellence in Cinematography	Adriano Goldman
2009 Stockholm International Film Festival Awards
	Best First Feature
	Best Actor	Edgar Flores
	FIPRESCI International Film Critics Prize for Best Film
St. Louis Film Critics Awards	Best Foreign Language Film

See also

• Children's immigration crisis