Review: ‘Sin Nombre’ Doesn’t Live Up to Reputation

Sin 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. (more…)