Review: ‘Sin Nombre’ Doesn’t Live Up to Reputation
by Mike LongSin Nombre is a fictionalized account of the largely unknown (to Americans, at least) struggle that would-be immigrants go through long before they even get to the U.S. border. The story of a young man on the run from a murderous gang is told through those hardships. Assuming this is a realistic portrayal of life for residents of South and Central America, what these people go through is terrifying and dangerous. Anyone who would willingly face this is a person of character, or at least awfully tough.
But just because the characters are sympathetic doesn’t mean they’re in a good movie.
Sin Nombre is at once an illuminating portrayal of anonymous people (hence the title: in English, Nameless) and a thriller marred by long stretches of un-illuminating inactivity, poutiness by the lead character as a substitute for acting, and a spectacularly clichéd climax. The fact that the picture is in a language other than English elicits in some American critics the same reaction that British accents bring out in American audiences: This doesn’t sound like what I hear every day, so it must be important.
It’s not that it’s a terrible movie. It’s not at all–it’s pretty good in fact, for what it is. But there are better thrillers out there with superior dialogue and deeper characters that never get the kind of acclaim that Sin Nombre enjoys. I believe it is being praised more for the sympathetic and PC nature of its characters and story than for the artistic or entertainment value of the picture itself.
Sin Nombre may be a filmmakers’ attempt to influence the immigration debate in the U.S., but that’s not apparent from the movie, which is a straightforward story about people in dire straits. That their situation is an element in a larger political debate is never mentioned. This lack of a direct appeal makes it a more effective plea for sympathy for illegal immigrants, and perhaps that was the filmmakers’ intent.
But again, the implications of the story are just that, assumptions that viewers may make (which is a whole lot of the reason people make and see movies in the first place). Moreover, the problems that the would-be immigrants face are almost entirely the doing of South and Central Americans governments, not Washington, DC. Compared to the other obstacles the characters face in getting to America, getting across the U.S. border is quite literally a trivial matter.
There is quality filmmaking here, at times top-shelf, but even top-shelf is still off-the-shelf. Sin Nombre is as well-directed as anything else in the sub-genre of the real-world thriller, but that’s a mighty narrow niche, and the occasionally inspired visual or intense moment does not make up for the pedestrian feel of the rest of it—pedestrian in the sense that we’ve felt this kind of tension in a movie many times before, and we know reflexively where it’s going.
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14 Comments
Thanks Mike, good to know that this isn't all that interesting. I have no doubt that because of the message that it will be high on the "recommend" list for foreign films.
By the way, can you give us a list sometime of your favorite foreign movies? Also, can you give us an opinion on "2046" — I'm still not sure what to make of that one?
The L.A. Times won a Pulitzer for covering these guys back in the 90's, in a multipart series that I thought was fascinating.
Unfortunately, this topic is rarely publicized. We would rather call ourselves tyrants for protecting our borders, than report on the savagery these immigrants face from Mexican "law enforcement."
I was at a Q & A with Fukunaga. "Sin Nombre" is the name of a place in Texas that is a memorial to the people who died along the way. I think the movie gives a perspective that has never been seen before. It ends at the border with the girl walking out of the desert and suddenly into the parking lot of a Sam's Club. It's a bit surreal.
I think the movie does more to show why we need to control the border. Stop the gangs from taking their wars and more importantly their gang mentality to our streets. Immigration as it stands now, fuels their criminal activity, as demonstrated in the film.
Fukunaga went into prisons and interviewed gang members and actually road those trains himself so it's not just a romanticized image of what a limo-liberal thinks.
Was the script written by Rigoberto Menchu by any chance?
Sounds like a movie following one of the classic liberal arguments to me. Pick a very likeable person in unusual and difficult circumstances and them hold them up as if they were typical of everyone. Actually, a movie is even better because the protagonists are made up. Most discussions I get into about the excesses of government become "but what about (insert fictional person who has this extremely rare and no fault of their own obstacle and is a really great person here) who could really use the help?" . Nevermind all the other people who abuse the program on your dime.
Take abortion for instance: rape, incest and health of the mother are always cited first, but they are a small portion of the actual abortions that take place, and those points are usually conceeded anyway. Welfare, affirmative action, preferential college admissions (and in this case illegal immigration) are similar examples.
This movie seems a lot like naked "open borders" propaganda.
Ok..let me see if I understand this. We have people that cross our borders ILLEGALLY, and they encounter hardships along they way. We are supposed to feel sorry for the hardships they face ?? Sounds like a VERY Liberal argument to me. Maybe they should consider not making the trip.
"Moreover, the problems that the would-be immigrants face are almost entirely the doing of South and Central Americans governments, not Washington, DC.”
Mexican say that the problem with their government is that the USA propped it up and that it is in fact the creation of the gringos.
The first problem with this is that it is standard commie rhetoric that ignores the fact that if America allowed the KGB to overrun their country that they would be trading down to an even more enslaved dilemma.
I ask them what would happen if the United States had invaded Mexico with the intent of removing the PRI? Wouldn't they themselves have sided with their countrymen to kill our men and women who were trying to liberate them? A light always goes on in their brains. They get it.
There is a good argument that because of our abortion policies that we need a massive infusion of immigrants to form a large enough economic base to compete with China, India, the Middle East, South America.
The biggest problem with that is that the Mexicans we are getting (though very hard working) are being misled by commies. MALDEF, La Raza and all the ACLU-like legal organizations always direct these peasants to policies that will destroy the prosperity that was the reason they came in the first place.
These illegals have to be stopped and never given control of our political institutions.
Illegals and their offspring vote left.
Reason enough for yet another "poor illegals" propaganda movie like this movie to be made by the usual suspects.
It would be far more interesting if the movie concentrated on the illegals who murder, rape, steal and yet continue to remain in the country. At least that would be original.
37 percent of LA country were born in another country. Immigrants dominate California politics. Do we really need more?
The young leads were certainly epically better than the kids in Gran Torino. "Sin Nombre" is a harrowing tale well told, and I thought it was an excellent movie, even if you could see the ending a mile away. Regardless of your position on immigration, you can agree that most people who take the risk to come here put themselves in horrific danger, and on the human level, that's certainly worth my 2 hours and $10. I don't think it's really an unknown issue to anyone anymore, regardless of where they live and since critics see a lot of foreign films, I doubt that the film's being in Spanish influenced their opinion of it much, as Spanish is hardly an exotic language anymore. (Now, "Mongol," THAT had an exotic language!!) "El Norte" told the story a little better in 1983, but this is a worthy film as well.
Ya know, I'm betting the people who were in Alcatraz in the 1940s put themselves in horrific danger, but somehow, I think my uncle is glad they never got out and dated his sister.
How about if these sterling individuals stayed where they were born, worked hard, raised their families, and tried to come here LEGALLY?
Like, oh, MILLIONS of the immigrants up until 1950 we get all misty-eyed over now, because they represent the real American Dream.
Then we'd have someone whose stories were worthy of telling, instead of glorifying the struggles of the anchor-baby-dropping, welfare-scamming, gang-banging crop of sociopaths inflicting themselves on our national culture at a rate equivalent to a 747-load every 2 hours, 24/7/365, even *with* a national recession.
I had the opportunity to work in Brazil and ended up having to bribe a cop there. The local agent for the shipping company I worked for was driving me home at 3:00 am from a vessel observation. Two cop cars set up a road block on the road. I don't speak Portuguese and ,my Spanish is touchy at best but I made out "domentos" and the conversation between the cop and the agent was not sounding good. I asked the agent what the problem was and he said the cop needed 10 Real (At the time 1 Real = 1$ due to the currency being new and pegged to the US $). I gave him 10 $ US after the cop told us he would accept it.
Afterward the agent literally started crying stating that the cops were "b'tards" and this was the third time he was stopped. If he did not pay they'd impound his car. He asked if they did this in America and I did not have the heart to tell him. I said no that the cop in US would get in deep trouble but then explained about tickets being given to meet quotas. At the time the Brazillian minimum wage was just over $2 per day.
This corruption which comes from the ancient Spanish system where government officials are to be compensated for what they do for you is one of the reasons I think Latin countries have such a hard time. It really makes one appreciate the British for the standards and governments they set up in their colonies.
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