An independent Spanish-language film from first-time feature director Cary Joji Fukunaga, Sin Nombre (“No Name”) uses photogenic young leads and some beautifully composed shots to help tell a sometimes hard-to-watch story about south-of-the-border poverty and the desperation behind illegal immigration.

We first meet a teenage Mexican gang member (Edgar Flores) as he romances his girlfriend, of whom his gang is unaware, and recruits a new kid to the brotherhood. Subsequent events lead to him being hunted by his gang and riding on a states-bound train where he’s befriended by an Ecuadorian teen (Paulina Gaitan) attempting the cross into Texas with her father, uncle and brother.

The film doesn’t really break any new ground with regard to crossing-the-border dramas. It’s also not as energetic as the similarly-themed City of God, nor as compelling. But it is refreshingly unsentimental and so unfolds somewhat unpredictably. Like life. Not every bad person dies and not every good person lives. The ending heralds hope for one character, but doom for another.

The relationship between Gaitan and Flores is nicely rendered and acted and for a little bit provides a respite from the cruel nature of the reality the two inhabit. Characters get shot, whacked with machetes, smacked around and almost raped. One trips and falls off the train. And Flores gets kicked repeatedly for lying to his gang, while said new kid endures the same treatment as an initiation rite.

Fukunaga contrasts that violence with some truly striking photography, such as the scene of a train pulling in to the Tapachula train yards where hordes of immigrants wait for its arrival. Or the train moving through the Mexican countryside in the rain. Best of all is a short but absolutely gorgeous sunrise shot of a car carrier truck, on which Flores and Gaitan are hiding, stopping at a checkpoint.

In the end I suppose it all really isn’t as memorable as I imagine similar films like Los Olvidados or El Norte to be. But it’s still a respectable little movie, and seems to make a good case for one side of a wholly divisive issue. Just be sure to avoid it if watching a 12-year-old boy shoot a man makes you more than a little uncomfortable. – [DVD]

Adventure/Crime/Drama/Thriller

Rated R

DVD Release Date: 9/1/09

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