The final scene in *Sin Nombre* depicts a shift of borders that I find to be the most gripping. The scene kicks off with a powder pink sunset and birds flying over free-flowing water. Sayra sighs and begins to turn and walk away from the beautiful landscape. Sayra walks through open green fields as the camera zooms away, minimizing her appearance and maximizing open land. There is a physical shadow in a form of a line that she crosses. She sees big American corporations, such as Walmart and Sears, through a barred fence. She then picks up the phone and stares at her reflection.
As she stares directly at her reflection, this moment poignantly insinuates the grave loneliness that comes with crossing the border alone. She clings to these phone numbers, as these digits are her only connection to home. Her lip quivers as she picks up the phone. A new border is created between her as an immigrant and an American citizen.
27:21 The train, ominous and powerful, breaks through the curtain of fog. Orchestral music plays, the moon glows with an otherworldly brightness and refracts through the damp night air forming a halo above the locomotive. The train has the power to break borders, to allow passage across them. The lighting is used to emphasize this importance–the train is the reason why everyone is there. The blinding halo formed by the moon captivates the onlookers’ and the viewer’s attention at the center of the frame, on the locomotive, giving it a supernatural energy. This energy gives it the air of some angelic savior who carries the worthy to freedom. It breaks through the mist, a sign of its ability to ignore borders, but remains partially obscured, symbolizing the unknowns of the journey ahead. The halo glints off of the train tracks, the silver path to a better life, a life away from violence. The headlight is overshadowed by the moon, a futile attempt to light the way–no amount of planning can prepare for the trials ahead. This dramatic introduction uses primarily lighting to show the importance of the train and its offer to free those condemned by borders.
In “Sin Nombre” during the train scene where Casper, Smiley, and Lil Mago are robbing the train, the cinematic technique of camera movement visually represents the anxiety and rush of emotions Casper feels after killing Lil Mago. The camera moves back and forth between close up shots of Casper, Lil Mago, and the other passengers on the train, showing the contrast between the gang and the rest of the passengers. The rapid switch of shots visually represents Casper crossing the border from gang member to enemy of the gang, and depicts what the fast heartbeat headrush feeling he probably feels is.
“Sin Nombre” tells the harrowing story of a young woman illegally immigrating to the US with the help from an ex-member of MS-13 on the run. These two protagonists meet when the leader of an MS-13 section, Lil Mago, orders El Smiley and El Casper to rob the immigrants of their belongings. When Lil Mago points a gun at Sarya, our female protagonist, El Casper interjects, killing Lil Mago to protect Sarya and therefore ensuring his own deadly fate. Right before this scene takes place, at minute 39, the camera angle foreshadows the choice El Casper will make and the consequences of said choice by capturing his arms. Tattooed on his wrist is a chain with a cross and in his hands, the machete that he uses to kill Lil Mago. The cross necklace tattoo symbolizes fate and rebirth while the machete is the tool which determines said fate and rebirth. When El Casper chooses to do the right, albeit violent thing, he changes his fate. Had he not killed Lil Mago, El Casper would not have faced such a fast demise. Furthermore, El Casper experienced rebirth by actively choosing to do the right thing and defy MS-13. He crosses the border between treacherous loyalty and protecting innocence despite certain death. El Casper’s storyline shows how difficult it is to leave or defy a gang. When boys are recruited to join gangs at such young ages, they do not understand or know what they’re getting themselves into. They have no choice but to surrender to a life of violence, opposition means death.
At the 1:26:25 mark, chaos breaks out when Sayra notices Casper’s old gang members popping out of the bushes along the bank of the river, ready to attack. This scene was intense and hard to watch because it ultimately ended with Casper’s brutal murder but I think it was brilliantly executed by the director. Although this scene depicted a situation that is hopefully very foreign to all of us, the movement of the camera and the way it seemed to imitate a pair of eyes made the viewer feel like they were there. This whole scene felt raw and harsh; nothing was censored to comfort the viewer. However, I believe that this style of filming enabled us to have so much more empathy for Sayra and her situation, even if we couldn’t relate from our own personal experiences. At this point in the movie, I had formed my own opinions and relationships with each character in the film and was invested in Sayra and Casper’s success on their journey to cross the border. As silly as it sounds having watched from the comfort of my own bed, I truly felt as if I was on this journey with them and I believe the choppy and uncensored filming style played a large part in that.
The framing of the train robbery’s aftermath in the film Sin Nombre visually depicts the border-crossing narrative. Just after murdering the gang leader and sending Smiley back home, Willie sits facing forward as the train gathers speed. Huddled together, the other passengers sit far behind him. The rain drenches him, making the scene into a freak baptism. With so much space between Willie and the survivors of the robbery, he is separated from them not only physically, but metaphorically by the chasm between life and death. “Estoy muerto,” he later says to Sayra. His baptism is one that births him into certain death, a border that he cannot un-cross. The movement of the train is also important. Willie swings his knife into the gang leader’s neck just after the train jolts to a start, and it is only when Willie stops running from the gang and stands motionless that Smiley shoots and kills him. This idea of movement and its relationship to death can be applied to every immigrant struggling to escape violence depicted in the film. Making the choice to embrace movement, to flee, expands motion into a life or death commitment and establishes motion as a fundamental part of the border. Flowing and shifting like the Rio Grande, survivors of the border will always feel uncomfortable settling down, both because of pressures from the new culture and because of how scarring the border as a place of movement can be.
In “Sin Nombre” color plays an important role in creating symbolism and juxtaposition as well as establishing themes and messages. During the film, the most profound and impactful use of color occurs during the execution of the rival gang member. Amid all the violence and confusion of this scene, the most noticeable aspect was Lil Mango’s child dressed in a bright yellow onesie. It drew my attention firstly because it was the boldest and brightest color in a mostly bleak color scheme, but also because I associate yellow with feelings of joy, opportunity, and life. The juxtaposition between those associations and the actual content of the scene was extremely impactful. A child being present and dressed in a bright yellow outfit helped to solidify murder and apathy as normal in impoverished gang cultures. Finally, the yellow outfit also serves as an indication that there is hope in both youth and opportunity. It tells the audience that opportunity for change exists, especially in the context of border crossings.
In America, damaging and widespread stereotypes exist about immigrants, particularly from Mexico and Latin America. These stereotypes exist as a product of ignorance and lack of understanding. A lack of thought for the context in which many of these attempted border crossings happen creates a lack of empathy and unwarranted disdain. The yellow onesie on the toddler is a representation of the simple desire to improve one’s and one’s loved one’s circumstances.
Around the 18 minute mark of the film, Sayra is traveling in a boat in Guatemala with her family. As they drift towards shore, the camera sits behind Sayra and captures her looking stoically over the river and town she is in, with the sun shining on her face as it sets directly in front of her. When the camera changes for a second time to move back a little and provide a wider view of the scene, the sun is prominently displayed directly over the houses on the land she is about to disembark on. This is a fitting shot to include at this point relatively early on in the movie, as it represents the cautious optimism and courage Sayra and her family, as well as most immigrants embarking on a similar journey, have at the beginning of their trip to the border. This scene is one that is symbolic of a feeling that represents a feeling of boldly thinking ahead to their end goal, as they know that their actions in that exact moment are propelling them forwards, and they truly feel like they are traveling. The sun shining on her face over the town Sayra lands on symbolizes her looking towards the “promised land” in the direction of the sun, and it also allows her face to be illuminated so we see the determination on her face that her entire party, like most other immigrants, holds with them at the beginning of their trip. In relation to the rest of this movie, the sun in this scene can be seen telling us that sun = good, as most of the bad events later in the movie (train not coming, people getting robbed) happen at night or while it’s rainy, and the other people throwing food onto the train happens when it’s sunny. This shows that just like the weather patterns, the trip to and then across the border for immigrants has a range of positive and negative points.
Fukunaga’s “Sin Nombre” uses tattoos to illustrate an inescapable world and permanent role as a gang member. After Smiley’s brutal induction Lil Mago confronts a captured rival gang member. Lil Mago lifts up the gang members shirt to reveal his tattoos, and even though the man claims to be done with that life and attempting to escape north he is still seen as a gang member. Smiley is forced to kill the captured man because “a chavala will always be a chavala”. The former gangster pleaded for his life and told them that he had a family but all that mattered is what the tattoo on his torso said. Lil Mago comes to reassure Smiley by telling him that the pain he feels from killing is only temporary “but La Mara is forever”.
Later in the film when Willy is on the run from the gang after killing Lil Mago, he is strongly affected by his tattoos. People are afraid of him and deem him dangerous, to the point of trying to push him off the train. People who Willy has never met before judge him not based on his actions but his appearance. They see him not as a person but solely as a gangster due to the tattoos. The tattoos set him apart and are the reason why his gang was able to track him down and eventually kill him.
In one of the final scenes Smiley is seen getting his first tattoo. This seals his fate and ensures that he will henceforth be known as a killer and a gang member. Smiley’s first tattoo symbolizes the beginning of a new generation of gang members and another turn of the wheel of an almost unbreakable cycle.
At 37:45 in the film “Sin Nombre,” El Casper, smiley, and Lil Mago were en route to a special mission which Lil Mago sent only the three of them. As the train slowly began to accelerate, they walked along the tracks into the light for a brief moment, whereas the train sailed away from it. The usage of lighting here fulfills multiple purposes thematically at the same time, mainly symbolizing hope, for both the gang trio and the family who attempted to head north. The family on the train looked forth into the darkness as the incandescent light gradually becomes more distant as the vehicle gathered speed, but the dimmer yellow lights shone on their faces from time to time as they proceed on. Here, the bright, white light in the distance symbolized the familiarity and warmth that is provided by their homeland, and as they move forth into the uncertainty shrouded in darkness, glimmers of hope shone through in the form of the warm, dim, yellow light. The very next shot after the cut of this scene was an ariel shot of a forest, filled with verdant trees and brimming with light, a direct contrast to the dark and uncertain scene in the previous shot. This symbolized the end of a chapter, both for the characters and the film itself. It quite literally crossed the border from one scene to another, and the characters crossed an emotional threshold in terms of their development.
At the beginning of the film, when Smiley is first in the gang’s headquarter type area, the leader is carrying around a baby wrapped in a bright yellow blanket. This is in stark contrast with the dark lighting & general “grimy” vibe of the set surrounding it. This bright yellow is visible, and I believe serves as a symbol of youth and hope. The filmmakers use the darkness and dirt as a symbol for what people are leaving, and throughout the film use a contrasting bright color as this hopeful symbol of moving forward. This can also be seen when the trains are going forward into the sunlight with bright colors and pants ahead. This idea is also evidenced in the final scene where Willy is shot, and Sayra is fighting between one side of the river that is stark and what she is leaving, and the other side with sunlight and bright colors.
One theme that kept repeating itself in the film, was the inclusion of geometric shapes. Specifically, the squares and rectangular shapes. These were represented in the train cars, railroads, and even the tattoos on the gang members’ faces. To me, these shapes represent the cage the characters are placed in. The cages of poverty, gangs, and loss. Because of this, the scene that stood out the most to me, was the short clip framing the blue sky with an airplane streaking across. The clouds were obscure, flowy shapes without the sharp lines like the objects on the ground. The representation of the airplane itself visually demonstrates how far away this freedom from is. During this scene, I also thought about the people that were aboard the plane. How they were ignorant of the intense struggles of the people trying to cross into the U.S beneath them. These ignorant people, including myself, are in our own cage. Instead of focusing on the horrific trials that these immigrants face trying to cross into the U.S., we, the citizens of the U.S., spend more time figuring out how to keep them out.
The film, Sin Nombre, explores the idea of crossing borders in both a physical and metaphorical sense and the director uses shot framing to indicate to the audience the border-crossing narrative. At the very beginning of the film, there is a shot where the character Willie is waiting to cross the train tracks in order to get to his friend’s house. His friend is nicknamed Smiley and is about 10 years old. Willie is an older-brother figure to Smiley and tries to protect him throughout the movie. Willie is going to Smiley’s house in order to pick him up for his initiation into the gang that Willie is a part of. As Willie is waiting to cross the tracks, a train passes directly in front of him. The way that the camera is framed results in the train obstructing the audience’s view of Willie and then after it passes we see him pause, cross the tracks toward us, and continue on his way to Smiley’s house.This split-second shot of Willie is very symbolic and represents the crossing of borders (via train tracks) for both Willie and Smiley. Willie is crossing the border into a new life, where he will eventually have to flee north because he killed the leader of his gang. Smiley’s border crossing though is much more significant. He is crossing the border from childhood and innocence, into adulthood and corruption. While this scene does not actually show Smiley crossing the tracks (only Willie), Willie is crossing the border for them both. Smiley does not get to choose whether he is ready to cross the train tracks and grow up, much like in real life. This scene indicates the turning point in both Willie’s and Smiley’s lives and the border that they cross unknowingly in that moment. The camera framing indicates the border-crossing narrative because the audience can clearly see the border that is between Willie and his new life, when the train passes between the camera and Willie. Then we see Willie cross the tracks, moving towards the camera, towards us, and towards the rest of the movie where the audience watches his life change.
In the beginning of “Sin Nombre”, the camera focuses on a beautiful forest scene. But then the person operating the camera turns and a shirtless man sitting in a chair in a cluttered room fills the frame. The forest scene is actually wallpaper. The man, Casper, walks towards the forest but is forced to turn and walk past it, as there is literally a wall behind the image. Fukunaga thus uses the wallpaper to illustrate how there is some sort of border between Casper and him ever accessing a place such as this forest. The border is revealed when Casper steps outside: He is Mexican, poor, and a gang member.
Having seen the film as a whole, it is possible that the wallpaper was showing a forest in New Jersey. A place that Casper would have perhaps ended up in with Sayra. Unfortunately when Casper is just meters away from the US, a physical border keeps him from reaching it. Just like the wall, he is unable to cross the river, being shot and killed by Smiley and other gang members. The US, like the forest scene, is forever inaccessible to him. Fukunaga, via the wall and the river, thus shows the multitude of borders Latinx immigrants face when trying to access places such as the US.
The final scene in *Sin Nombre* depicts a shift of borders that I find to be the most gripping. The scene kicks off with a powder pink sunset and birds flying over free-flowing water. Sayra sighs and begins to turn and walk away from the beautiful landscape. Sayra walks through open green fields as the camera zooms away, minimizing her appearance and maximizing open land. There is a physical shadow in a form of a line that she crosses. She sees big American corporations, such as Walmart and Sears, through a barred fence. She then picks up the phone and stares at her reflection.
As she stares directly at her reflection, this moment poignantly insinuates the grave loneliness that comes with crossing the border alone. She clings to these phone numbers, as these digits are her only connection to home. Her lip quivers as she picks up the phone. A new border is created between her as an immigrant and an American citizen.
27:21 The train, ominous and powerful, breaks through the curtain of fog. Orchestral music plays, the moon glows with an otherworldly brightness and refracts through the damp night air forming a halo above the locomotive. The train has the power to break borders, to allow passage across them. The lighting is used to emphasize this importance–the train is the reason why everyone is there. The blinding halo formed by the moon captivates the onlookers’ and the viewer’s attention at the center of the frame, on the locomotive, giving it a supernatural energy. This energy gives it the air of some angelic savior who carries the worthy to freedom. It breaks through the mist, a sign of its ability to ignore borders, but remains partially obscured, symbolizing the unknowns of the journey ahead. The halo glints off of the train tracks, the silver path to a better life, a life away from violence. The headlight is overshadowed by the moon, a futile attempt to light the way–no amount of planning can prepare for the trials ahead. This dramatic introduction uses primarily lighting to show the importance of the train and its offer to free those condemned by borders.
In “Sin Nombre” during the train scene where Casper, Smiley, and Lil Mago are robbing the train, the cinematic technique of camera movement visually represents the anxiety and rush of emotions Casper feels after killing Lil Mago. The camera moves back and forth between close up shots of Casper, Lil Mago, and the other passengers on the train, showing the contrast between the gang and the rest of the passengers. The rapid switch of shots visually represents Casper crossing the border from gang member to enemy of the gang, and depicts what the fast heartbeat headrush feeling he probably feels is.
“Sin Nombre” tells the harrowing story of a young woman illegally immigrating to the US with the help from an ex-member of MS-13 on the run. These two protagonists meet when the leader of an MS-13 section, Lil Mago, orders El Smiley and El Casper to rob the immigrants of their belongings. When Lil Mago points a gun at Sarya, our female protagonist, El Casper interjects, killing Lil Mago to protect Sarya and therefore ensuring his own deadly fate. Right before this scene takes place, at minute 39, the camera angle foreshadows the choice El Casper will make and the consequences of said choice by capturing his arms. Tattooed on his wrist is a chain with a cross and in his hands, the machete that he uses to kill Lil Mago. The cross necklace tattoo symbolizes fate and rebirth while the machete is the tool which determines said fate and rebirth. When El Casper chooses to do the right, albeit violent thing, he changes his fate. Had he not killed Lil Mago, El Casper would not have faced such a fast demise. Furthermore, El Casper experienced rebirth by actively choosing to do the right thing and defy MS-13. He crosses the border between treacherous loyalty and protecting innocence despite certain death. El Casper’s storyline shows how difficult it is to leave or defy a gang. When boys are recruited to join gangs at such young ages, they do not understand or know what they’re getting themselves into. They have no choice but to surrender to a life of violence, opposition means death.
At the 1:26:25 mark, chaos breaks out when Sayra notices Casper’s old gang members popping out of the bushes along the bank of the river, ready to attack. This scene was intense and hard to watch because it ultimately ended with Casper’s brutal murder but I think it was brilliantly executed by the director. Although this scene depicted a situation that is hopefully very foreign to all of us, the movement of the camera and the way it seemed to imitate a pair of eyes made the viewer feel like they were there. This whole scene felt raw and harsh; nothing was censored to comfort the viewer. However, I believe that this style of filming enabled us to have so much more empathy for Sayra and her situation, even if we couldn’t relate from our own personal experiences. At this point in the movie, I had formed my own opinions and relationships with each character in the film and was invested in Sayra and Casper’s success on their journey to cross the border. As silly as it sounds having watched from the comfort of my own bed, I truly felt as if I was on this journey with them and I believe the choppy and uncensored filming style played a large part in that.
The framing of the train robbery’s aftermath in the film Sin Nombre visually depicts the border-crossing narrative. Just after murdering the gang leader and sending Smiley back home, Willie sits facing forward as the train gathers speed. Huddled together, the other passengers sit far behind him. The rain drenches him, making the scene into a freak baptism. With so much space between Willie and the survivors of the robbery, he is separated from them not only physically, but metaphorically by the chasm between life and death. “Estoy muerto,” he later says to Sayra. His baptism is one that births him into certain death, a border that he cannot un-cross. The movement of the train is also important. Willie swings his knife into the gang leader’s neck just after the train jolts to a start, and it is only when Willie stops running from the gang and stands motionless that Smiley shoots and kills him. This idea of movement and its relationship to death can be applied to every immigrant struggling to escape violence depicted in the film. Making the choice to embrace movement, to flee, expands motion into a life or death commitment and establishes motion as a fundamental part of the border. Flowing and shifting like the Rio Grande, survivors of the border will always feel uncomfortable settling down, both because of pressures from the new culture and because of how scarring the border as a place of movement can be.
In “Sin Nombre” color plays an important role in creating symbolism and juxtaposition as well as establishing themes and messages. During the film, the most profound and impactful use of color occurs during the execution of the rival gang member. Amid all the violence and confusion of this scene, the most noticeable aspect was Lil Mango’s child dressed in a bright yellow onesie. It drew my attention firstly because it was the boldest and brightest color in a mostly bleak color scheme, but also because I associate yellow with feelings of joy, opportunity, and life. The juxtaposition between those associations and the actual content of the scene was extremely impactful. A child being present and dressed in a bright yellow outfit helped to solidify murder and apathy as normal in impoverished gang cultures. Finally, the yellow outfit also serves as an indication that there is hope in both youth and opportunity. It tells the audience that opportunity for change exists, especially in the context of border crossings.
In America, damaging and widespread stereotypes exist about immigrants, particularly from Mexico and Latin America. These stereotypes exist as a product of ignorance and lack of understanding. A lack of thought for the context in which many of these attempted border crossings happen creates a lack of empathy and unwarranted disdain. The yellow onesie on the toddler is a representation of the simple desire to improve one’s and one’s loved one’s circumstances.
Around the 18 minute mark of the film, Sayra is traveling in a boat in Guatemala with her family. As they drift towards shore, the camera sits behind Sayra and captures her looking stoically over the river and town she is in, with the sun shining on her face as it sets directly in front of her. When the camera changes for a second time to move back a little and provide a wider view of the scene, the sun is prominently displayed directly over the houses on the land she is about to disembark on. This is a fitting shot to include at this point relatively early on in the movie, as it represents the cautious optimism and courage Sayra and her family, as well as most immigrants embarking on a similar journey, have at the beginning of their trip to the border. This scene is one that is symbolic of a feeling that represents a feeling of boldly thinking ahead to their end goal, as they know that their actions in that exact moment are propelling them forwards, and they truly feel like they are traveling. The sun shining on her face over the town Sayra lands on symbolizes her looking towards the “promised land” in the direction of the sun, and it also allows her face to be illuminated so we see the determination on her face that her entire party, like most other immigrants, holds with them at the beginning of their trip. In relation to the rest of this movie, the sun in this scene can be seen telling us that sun = good, as most of the bad events later in the movie (train not coming, people getting robbed) happen at night or while it’s rainy, and the other people throwing food onto the train happens when it’s sunny. This shows that just like the weather patterns, the trip to and then across the border for immigrants has a range of positive and negative points.
Fukunaga’s “Sin Nombre” uses tattoos to illustrate an inescapable world and permanent role as a gang member. After Smiley’s brutal induction Lil Mago confronts a captured rival gang member. Lil Mago lifts up the gang members shirt to reveal his tattoos, and even though the man claims to be done with that life and attempting to escape north he is still seen as a gang member. Smiley is forced to kill the captured man because “a chavala will always be a chavala”. The former gangster pleaded for his life and told them that he had a family but all that mattered is what the tattoo on his torso said. Lil Mago comes to reassure Smiley by telling him that the pain he feels from killing is only temporary “but La Mara is forever”.
Later in the film when Willy is on the run from the gang after killing Lil Mago, he is strongly affected by his tattoos. People are afraid of him and deem him dangerous, to the point of trying to push him off the train. People who Willy has never met before judge him not based on his actions but his appearance. They see him not as a person but solely as a gangster due to the tattoos. The tattoos set him apart and are the reason why his gang was able to track him down and eventually kill him.
In one of the final scenes Smiley is seen getting his first tattoo. This seals his fate and ensures that he will henceforth be known as a killer and a gang member. Smiley’s first tattoo symbolizes the beginning of a new generation of gang members and another turn of the wheel of an almost unbreakable cycle.
At 37:45 in the film “Sin Nombre,” El Casper, smiley, and Lil Mago were en route to a special mission which Lil Mago sent only the three of them. As the train slowly began to accelerate, they walked along the tracks into the light for a brief moment, whereas the train sailed away from it. The usage of lighting here fulfills multiple purposes thematically at the same time, mainly symbolizing hope, for both the gang trio and the family who attempted to head north. The family on the train looked forth into the darkness as the incandescent light gradually becomes more distant as the vehicle gathered speed, but the dimmer yellow lights shone on their faces from time to time as they proceed on. Here, the bright, white light in the distance symbolized the familiarity and warmth that is provided by their homeland, and as they move forth into the uncertainty shrouded in darkness, glimmers of hope shone through in the form of the warm, dim, yellow light. The very next shot after the cut of this scene was an ariel shot of a forest, filled with verdant trees and brimming with light, a direct contrast to the dark and uncertain scene in the previous shot. This symbolized the end of a chapter, both for the characters and the film itself. It quite literally crossed the border from one scene to another, and the characters crossed an emotional threshold in terms of their development.
At the beginning of the film, when Smiley is first in the gang’s headquarter type area, the leader is carrying around a baby wrapped in a bright yellow blanket. This is in stark contrast with the dark lighting & general “grimy” vibe of the set surrounding it. This bright yellow is visible, and I believe serves as a symbol of youth and hope. The filmmakers use the darkness and dirt as a symbol for what people are leaving, and throughout the film use a contrasting bright color as this hopeful symbol of moving forward. This can also be seen when the trains are going forward into the sunlight with bright colors and pants ahead. This idea is also evidenced in the final scene where Willy is shot, and Sayra is fighting between one side of the river that is stark and what she is leaving, and the other side with sunlight and bright colors.
One theme that kept repeating itself in the film, was the inclusion of geometric shapes. Specifically, the squares and rectangular shapes. These were represented in the train cars, railroads, and even the tattoos on the gang members’ faces. To me, these shapes represent the cage the characters are placed in. The cages of poverty, gangs, and loss. Because of this, the scene that stood out the most to me, was the short clip framing the blue sky with an airplane streaking across. The clouds were obscure, flowy shapes without the sharp lines like the objects on the ground. The representation of the airplane itself visually demonstrates how far away this freedom from is. During this scene, I also thought about the people that were aboard the plane. How they were ignorant of the intense struggles of the people trying to cross into the U.S beneath them. These ignorant people, including myself, are in our own cage. Instead of focusing on the horrific trials that these immigrants face trying to cross into the U.S., we, the citizens of the U.S., spend more time figuring out how to keep them out.
The film, Sin Nombre, explores the idea of crossing borders in both a physical and metaphorical sense and the director uses shot framing to indicate to the audience the border-crossing narrative. At the very beginning of the film, there is a shot where the character Willie is waiting to cross the train tracks in order to get to his friend’s house. His friend is nicknamed Smiley and is about 10 years old. Willie is an older-brother figure to Smiley and tries to protect him throughout the movie. Willie is going to Smiley’s house in order to pick him up for his initiation into the gang that Willie is a part of. As Willie is waiting to cross the tracks, a train passes directly in front of him. The way that the camera is framed results in the train obstructing the audience’s view of Willie and then after it passes we see him pause, cross the tracks toward us, and continue on his way to Smiley’s house.This split-second shot of Willie is very symbolic and represents the crossing of borders (via train tracks) for both Willie and Smiley. Willie is crossing the border into a new life, where he will eventually have to flee north because he killed the leader of his gang. Smiley’s border crossing though is much more significant. He is crossing the border from childhood and innocence, into adulthood and corruption. While this scene does not actually show Smiley crossing the tracks (only Willie), Willie is crossing the border for them both. Smiley does not get to choose whether he is ready to cross the train tracks and grow up, much like in real life. This scene indicates the turning point in both Willie’s and Smiley’s lives and the border that they cross unknowingly in that moment. The camera framing indicates the border-crossing narrative because the audience can clearly see the border that is between Willie and his new life, when the train passes between the camera and Willie. Then we see Willie cross the tracks, moving towards the camera, towards us, and towards the rest of the movie where the audience watches his life change.
In the beginning of “Sin Nombre”, the camera focuses on a beautiful forest scene. But then the person operating the camera turns and a shirtless man sitting in a chair in a cluttered room fills the frame. The forest scene is actually wallpaper. The man, Casper, walks towards the forest but is forced to turn and walk past it, as there is literally a wall behind the image. Fukunaga thus uses the wallpaper to illustrate how there is some sort of border between Casper and him ever accessing a place such as this forest. The border is revealed when Casper steps outside: He is Mexican, poor, and a gang member.
Having seen the film as a whole, it is possible that the wallpaper was showing a forest in New Jersey. A place that Casper would have perhaps ended up in with Sayra. Unfortunately when Casper is just meters away from the US, a physical border keeps him from reaching it. Just like the wall, he is unable to cross the river, being shot and killed by Smiley and other gang members. The US, like the forest scene, is forever inaccessible to him. Fukunaga, via the wall and the river, thus shows the multitude of borders Latinx immigrants face when trying to access places such as the US.