A Better Tomorrow

To employ a broad term, Latin America has provided some of the most visually and emotionally arresting films of the past few years. Two key South American films from the previous decade, "Y Tu Mama Tambien" (Cuaron 2001) and "City of God" (Meirelles & Lund 2002), are masterpieces by any measure. Now director Cary Fukunaga (of the forthcoming "Jane Eyre" adaptation) has given us the political drama "Sin Nombre", a film without South African release but legally obtainable from overseas. (It may pop up on satellite, but I'm not sure.)

In this epic, wrenching drama, we meet Willy (Edgar Flores), or "El Casper" as he is known to his fellow gang members. Willy is part of the infamous Mexican Mara gang run by the deadly El Sol (Luis Pena) and his intimidating brother Lil' Mago (Tenoch Huerta). Willy has recently assisted in the induction of a new member, the eager young Smiley (Kristian Ferrer). As some of Willy's actions indicate, he is not fulfilled by gang life.

Then there's Sayra (Paulina Gaitan) who intends to flee the poverty and constraints of Honduras with her family. They intend to take the train to New Jersey, where they will reunite with family members already there. This train ride is completely illegal, as those wanting to escape to the land of the free do so without documentation and on the roof of the train, where they are exposed to the elements and are easily spotted by immigration control. Sayra is told that the journey is "life threatening", and we see how dangerous this journey really is. At some stage Sayra and Willy meet, and the film details their perilous transit with empathy and without soft focus.

"Sin Nombre" - "without name" - is a powerful, moving film about the plight of the less fortunate without being patronising or condescending to its characters or viewers. It does not rub our faces in squalor and decay but chooses instead to show us people who face social danger regularly and are willing to do whatever is necessary to leave that world behind in favour of a new, better one. The title's play on namelessness indicates the problematics of a dictated identity bound to geography and social structures (gangs), while also pointing to the 'non-existence' status of illegal immigrants. The film is as much a vivid illustration of the costs of illegal immigration as it is a condemnation and demonstration of the detrimental social role of Mexican gangs, groups whose power and influence reach far into the United States.

Thirty three year-old Fukunaga, whose social consciousness is surely informed by his education as a History major, avoids the potential pitfalls of statistics and proselytising. His focus is always on the experiences of his characters as they struggle in and against the world, and this reveals the larger social reality without comprising its complexity (illegal immigration and gangs are not simple issues).

The film is alive with colour, and I must mention cinematographer Abriano Goldman's contribution in making Mexico come to life on screen. No wonder; Goldman shot on 35 mm film, not digital. 

"Sin Nombre" won multiple awards at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival. It was produced by Diego Luna and Gael Garcia Bernal, the two male leads in "Y Tu Mama Tambien".