Sin Nombre

Release Date (UK) - 14 August 2009

Certificate (UK) - 15

Country - Mexico / USA

Director - Cary Fukunaga

Runtime - 96 mins

Starring - Kristian Ferrer, Edgar Flores, Paulina Gaitan

Sin Nombre is another immigration film, a topic which seems to be increasingly popular at the moment. It pieces together the threads of Willy (Edgar Flores) and Smiley (Kristian Ferrer), members of the notorious Mara gang and Sayra (Paulina Gaitan), a teenager trying to emigrate to America with her estranged family. They come together travelling through Mexico on the roof of a train as first time director Fukunaga illustrates how many desperate people try (and often die trying) to get in to the USA.

The gang scenes feature some very brutal violence, and although this film has been compared to City of God Its a very different style, it is very beautifully shot and the story is a lot slower. This film had the potential to be a great watch but there's just something missing here - you just don't feel very attached to the characters emotionally and up not really caring what the outcome is, even though the tension is built up to a grand finale. Having seen Trade recently where Paulina Gaitan plays basically the same character this film just feels like a much better shot version of the same film. Whilst watching plights of people in this countries can be eye opening this film seems to be more about teenage angst than what could have been an emotional story of immigration and its dangers.