Point to 1 specific scene, image, or cinematic technique that Cary Fukunaga develops as a way of visually representing this border-crossing narrative, and discuss its meaning to the film as a whole.
14 thoughts on “Sin Nombre Responses”
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Amongst the final scenes in the movie, Sin Nombre, the shooting of Willy struck me the most. The fact that the act was done by Smiley was very shocking. The young character, Smiley, throughout the movie conveyed signs of admiration for Willy and the lifestyle he led. Although the majority of the movie was focused on Willy and his shift in beliefs, there was an obvious parallel to Smiley. While Willy was distancing himself from the gang, Smiley looked for more ways to assert himself. He even made it clear to his fellow peers that he was willing to kill Willy to belong. This is interesting seeing as Willy was the one who made a name for Smiley within the gang. Yet Smiley was so quick to “kill off” Willy’s name in order to create himself a new name. This leaves me thinking about whether all the characters were simply searching for names. Perhaps the movie was just the journey to a name and not the literal crossing of the Mexican border.
Through Willy’s death, Cary Fukunaga ingrains the notion that some pasts are inescapable and make crossing borders increasingly difficult. In the beginning of Sin Nombre, Willy aids Smiley through his initiation. As part of this, Smiley is required to kill a man. Lil Mago, the gang leader, pulls a captured man out of a cage, saying how he has stepped into enemy territory and that now he will go through a painful death. The man profusely begs for his life to be spared, claiming that he is not part of the gang anymore, and how he has even started a family. In response, Lil Mago says, “A chaval will always be a chaval,” and hands a crudely made firearm to Smiley. As instructed, Willy puts his hands over Smiley’s, and together they shoot the man. “La Mara is forever,” the gang members are consistently reminded. “La Mara have a good memory.” In the closing scene of the film, Smiley is once again pointing a gun at another individual, except this time, it is pointing at Willy, for betraying the gang by killing Lil Mago. In a state of disbelief, Willy’s pleading eyes beg Smiley to let him go, to be free to cross the border. Smiley grimaces, “Mara por vida, homie,” and shoots him dead. The final thing Willy saw was the border that he was so close to crossing.
In Hamlet, Shakespeare kills off multiple characters—including Polonius, the most nefarious agent of them all—for spying on others, displaying Shakespeare’s particular distaste for spying. When a writer kills of a character, it usually has the deeper meaning of disapproval for their acts. Willy is no doubt a sympathetic character, and he has been created to be that way. He wants to leave the life of the gang, proving himself by killing Lil Mago and befriending Sayra; however, Fukunaga specifically leads him to the end of Smiley’s pistol, a pistol that he had not long ago been on the other side of. Like the man in the beginning of the film whom Smiley and Willy killed, Willy is finished with La Mara, but his past will not disappear simply because he decided to stop looking at it. He had lead a violent life of crime, and the consequence of that past life is being stopped from crossing the border.
Though Willy is never able to cross the physical border between Mexico and America, he is able to cross borders within his own heart and mind about his morals and beliefs. With La Mara, the border between family and enemy is as thin as the blade of a knife. Fear controls that family. Sayra is an example of acceptance and kindness, traits that made genuine and healthy relationships between people. Willy abandons the cruel nature of his past and begins to live with compassion for others. In a way, Willy’s death is not only a consequence of his previous actions, but a reward for his contrite heart, because his memories of death and debris would have always been etched onto his mind like the tattoos on his skin.
Contrast is a cinematic technique used throughout the film. Contrast lies most strongly in Lil’ Mago’s behavior, specifically when he forces Smiley to shoot the imprisoned “chavala.” Lil’ Mago’s actions are hauntingly unpredictable. He tortures, kills, and rapes in the most grotesque ways possible, yet holds his own son so tenderly in his arms. It is unsettling to see the baby nestled safely in Lil’ Mago’s arms while a disturbing murder takes place. This embodies the border between the town and the gangs, and the interactions between village and gang members. Lil’ Mago expresses to Willy that his love for gang members runs deep, but his claim is contradicted by 13 second punishment rounds and his constant brutality. Visceral clips of violence often precede shots of affection and care. Lil’ Mago gently touches Smiley’s face after ordering one last final blow to Smiley’s body, and cautiously approaches Martha after assaulting her. These abrupt changes in character and mood parallel with Sayra’s journey, in that she faces challenges with little to no warning. Fukanga uses contrast to enhance conflicts that arise in the film. His technique sheds light on borders within communities, whether they be between the gang members, villagers, or immigrants.
In the movie Sin Nombre directed by Cary Fukunaga, one instance of a breached border that I found most intriguing and heartbreaking was the separation between Willy’s gang life and his love life. When Willy is with his gang, he is no longer Willy, but “El Casper” – an aggressive and cruel version of Willy whose goal is to defend his “homies.” At times, the intentions and mannerisms of the gang almost seem too savage for Willy to handle. One example is when Willy hesitates before joining the gang members when beating up Smiley for his initiation into the gang. Although Willy shows apprehensions about remaining faithful to the gang, there is no way out, because he is permanently tattooed and already too involved.
In dramatic contrast with Willy’s gang life is his love life with Martha Marlene. When Willy is with Martha, we see that he is gentle, tender, and in love. Not only is Willy’s attitude different when he is with Martha, but Martha physically lives in another part of town, indicating a more distinct divide between Willy’s gang life and his love life. Fukunaga also chooses to highlight Martha’s young, innocent, and “girly” bedroom – clad in pink with flowy curtains and frills – furthering the contrast with the dark and dismal gang house laden with concrete and chains. Another facet of the divide between Willy’s two lives is his gangs objectification of women versus his own more respectful views of women. Willy’s gang is repeatedly demeaning towards females, specifically in the two instances when Lil Mago attempts to rape Martha and then Sayra, yet we never see Willy taking part in this objectification of women.
The specific scene that exemplifies the fire and ice worlds that Willy is living in is the moment when Martha shows up to one of Willy’s gang meetings. Martha’s appearance breaches the divide between Willy’s two different lifestyles, ultimately resulting in Martha’s death and Willy’s loss of both of his previous lives. Martha shows up with braids in her hair and a nice blue and pink top, but Lil Mago wears nothing but his aggressive tattoos. This moment was especially saddening because the clash between Willy’s two worlds is inevitable and unavoidable. There is nothing Willy could have done to preserve what he had, and the simple infringement of the paper-thin border between his communities leads to a loss of everything and everyone.
When Sayra and Willy are on the car hauler, she leans over to smell whether or not he is the source of the odor. In this moment, the border between an individual journey and a shared one is not necessarily crossed but blurred. Their physical closeness represents how intimate of a task crossing the border can be.
Their distance in the scene where Willy is murdered, where a river lies between them as he dies, leaves her alone without any possibility of regaining their relationship. Her strength to continue is incredibly admirable especially since she has relied on others throughout the film. The absence of companionship in the final minutes (where she actually crosses) reiterates that the journey is not solely, but rather fundamentally an introspective one. Without looking within it would be impossible to endure such violence, see your family disintegrate, and then persevere.
About halfway through Sin Nombre, there is a scene where Willy is sitting alone on top of the stopped train, and Sayra approaches him from behind and offers him food. Up until this moment, a border of sorts has existed between Willy and the migrants on the train. Part of that border is the actual physical space between him and the migrants—after witnessing him kill Lil Mago, they seem only too eager to give him a wide berth on the train car. But another part of the separation is the fact they seem to have completely different reasons for being on that train, as Willy only came aboard to help steal from the migrants. Later, they will realize that they share the goal of getting away from their old lives, but neither a shell-shocked Willy nor the understandably uneasy migrants recognize this yet. The only previous attempt to cross the border between them was made by the two men who tried to throw Willy off the train, and that was only a crossing in the physical sense, made with the intent to put even more separation between them. But Sayra crosses this border to try and erase it, to bring Willy closer to her and the other migrants. She offers him food, and then her name. And Willy gives his name in return. The title of this movie translates to “Without name.” Until this point, Sayra and Willy have been nameless to each other, a barrier of unfamiliarity that stands between them. To Sayra and the others, Willy was initially just the ‘gangster,’ and to Willy, Sayra and the others are just ‘migrants.’ But when they exchange names, they begin to recognize that the other is actually someone like them with the same struggles and the same hopes. The border between them begins to gradually disappear. By using this scene as a turning point in Willy and Sayra’s friendship, Fukunaga is saying that although it might look like a risk to reach out to another across a border (physical or abstract) that seems impassable, it’s well worth the reward of human connection that results with the help of decency and mutual understanding.
The one scene I found to be most fascinating in evaluating “Sin Nombre” as a border crossing narrative is the moment when Sayra’s Uncle and the two other men are on the back of the train moving through the town in Northern Mexico and see the small children playing. This scene passes by so quickly that if you’re not paying attention it could easily pass by, but I believe that it is important because it the only opportunity we are given to evaluate how the native Mexicans feel about other South Americans coming through their town on their way north. In the movie, when the men see the children, they begin yelling to say hi to the children, but, instead of saying high back to the men, the kids pick up rocks and throw them at the trains, scorning them for going north. I am not trying to say that all Latin Americans should be lumped together and considered to be part of the same community, but it is interesting to see how the children in a small town in northern Mexico react to a train full of immigrants from Honduras.
Both at the beginning and end of Sin Nombre there is an image of boats crossing a river, marking the beginning of a journey to the United States. By placing this image once again at the end of the film, Fukunaga represents the many attempts it may take to cross the border. Sayra’s uncle was deported on his way to the United States. He must try a second time to cross the border whereas Sayra made it to the United States. Images of more than one attempt at crossing make the film seem ongoing even after it ends. Since the film was so emotionally devastating, this image is even more important because all the horrible events that occurred during the film should supposedly happen again. By bookending the film with this image Fukunaga forces viewers to interpret crossing as an ongoing struggle that may never end for some immigrants.
Cary Fukunaga, the director of Sin Nombre, uses gang violence to parallel the escalation of tension between Willy and the rest of the gang. The first ritual act of violence occurs when the gang initiates Smiley. Willy hesitates, then joins in, until he kicks Smiley just as hard as the others. Both Willy and Smiley are full members for taking part in the ritual. The second act occurs as a punishment. They are beaten and kicked, no differently than the first time. The violence is retribution, but again Willy and Smiley are part of the group. They are members who have transgressed and must repent for their crimes, but they are still members. The final act of ritual violence shows just how far Willy has strayed from the gang. Smiley shoots a couple of rounds first, then others join in. A circle of ceaseless, unnecessary violence. Willy fully crossed the border from membership, so they treated him like a non-member. They shot him the way Smiley shot the former rival gang member at the beginning of the movie.
Not related, but Willy never takes his shirt off with the gang. He does not display his tattoos proudly among them. His death devastated me.
One specific scene from Sin Nombre that visually represents a crossing of borders occurs when Willy turns upon Lil’ Mago, saving Sayra from the sexual advances of his leader. Although this may not be the most obvious crossing within the film, by abandoning his loyalty to la Mara Salvatrucha, Willy initiates his own personal transition from a life of crime to one in pursuit of a moral cause. Throughout the rest of the film it becomes apparent that, with influence from Sayra, Willy is learning to cross a more intimate periphery, dedicating his efforts to her safe transport across the Mexico-United States border. While undergoing their travels, Willy begins to demonstrate a newfound sense of trust and compassion towards his companion, acting as a source of comfort upon receiving news of her father and uncle, promising to accompany Sayra to her new home in America, and protecting her general health and privacy. These significant changes of character are ultimately displayed in the final scenes of the film when preparing to cross the river separating these two border nations. Not only does he part with his valued camera, containing memories of Martha and his former life, but also, with knowledge of la Mara closing in, ensures that Sayra will be transported first, safe from the confrontation that ultimately brings his final demise. Although the film details the journey of these characters to cross from Mexico to the United States, from their former places of danger to the promised safety of America, it also illustrates the personal changes underwent by the main character as he learns to leave behind his days of orchestrated violence in favor of guiding Sayra to a new life, even if it means the loss of his own.
One of the border crossings most critical to the plot of Sin Nombre is the transition into or out of the gang: as events show Casper losing his faith and later falling from grace, Smiley is shown to become more and more dedicated, striving to prove himself and his place in the gang. Several scenes in the film visually represent this crossing, but the most striking for me was the long tracking shot used when Smiley and Casper are first shown entering “the Destroyer.” From the entrance gate through several hallways and rooms, with disparate music fading and swelling, various character introductions, and the establishment of setting for future scenes, the camera tracks one continuous shot. This forces the viewer, as Casper has forced Smiley, to dive directly into the world of the gang, and all that it entails. In addition, the cut that follows this long shot hold just as much thematic and narrative weight as the long shot. Immediately following the long tracking shot, the camera cuts just as Casper lies to Lil’ Mago about his whereabouts the night before. The camera cuts directly to the revelation of Smiley’s first victim, found in the area where Casper was supposed to be stationed. Just as the long shot represents Smiley’s entrance into a new culture, the ending of the shot represents the beginning of Casper’s disregard for his place in the gang, two themes that realize themselves through the entirety of the plot.
The movie Sin Nombre begins with a long slow static shot of a forest ripe with oranges, reds, and yellows. Quickly, the shot switches to a long slow static shot of a man sitting on a chair in a cluttered, cement room smoking a cigarette. This switch happens three or four times before the camera finally takes a shot from behind the man, and, with a jolt, the viewer realizes that the forest is actually a large poster hanging in this man’s home.
This act of illusion and disillusionment paired together serves as a reminder to the viewer as she traces the trails of Sayra and Willy. Willy lives his life as a gang member, a brother, an influencer, but also as a lover, as a man who dreams of better things. This is clear from the very presence of the poster in his room. He gets lost in it, staring at the bright colors of the forest he will probably never see. His desire for freedom and for peace are clear when he tells Martha Marlene, his love, that they could hop on the train and ride it all the way to the north. This promise and hope are almost instantly tarnished by the appearance of El Sol, second command in the gang Willy is a part of, and his suspicion. Over and over and over again it seems like there is some semblance of hope only to be dashed immediately in the next scene. Willy’s hope for a future and for better things drives him as he is wracked by grief and pain.
A bundle of incongruities, or so it seems, Willy finally seems to find balance when he forms a connection with Sayra after he has severed all ties with the gang and his home. In one of the final scenes, Willy gives up his prized camera with all of his memories of Martha Marlene to pay for Sayra’s passage across the river into the United States. Willy transforms from a man destroyed by loss, pain, and a longing for a future he can never have into a man willing to give up his prized possessions, even to the point of death, for another. He no longer holds his dream of the bright forests in the north as something he can achieve, but rather imparts that opportunity upon Sayra. With that decision, Willy finally finds a lasting hope.
Towards the end of the film Sin Nombre, there is an image of Sayra, with her backpack, walking on the grass after finally crossing the border. Casper was just murdered on the other side of the river; Sayra walks alone. The camera then pans over to a Texan city rife with department stores, parking lots, and white buildings. The green grass Sayra walks on is triumphant. She barely made it over the border alive. She was minutes away from being shot, or drowned, or killed in any other way, but she finally made it. It is a calming image, a happy one. However, when the camera moves to capture the city, we get overwhelmed. Sayra has only begun to cross many of the borders that come with moving into American society. Now, she will have to reach her family, somehow find a way to make money, and cope with the loss of a family member, all while living in fear of being discovered as illegal. Even when people do cross the border, even if they can make it out of their violent homelands alive, nothing about coming to the United States is easy. Although immigrants have crossed a physical border, many more borders and hardships- linguistic, job-related, social, and political, await them. The adversity of the illegal immigrant never ends.
A cinematic technique that Fukunaga develops to really drive home the theme of border crossing is the continued repetition of the phone number of Sayra’s step mother. The moments that it is brought up are important in the film and track its progress — the beginning and probably most memorable, where Horacio makes Sayra and Orlando repeat it ad nauseum so they wouldn’t forget it marks the first scene of the journey north. It is brought up again in the train yard when Sayra and her uncle tease Horacio and prove that they know the number at a part of the film when the narratives of Sayra and Willy are about to collide. Finally, it ends the movie and marks Sayra’s arrival to safety after the harrowing journey.
Other than tracking the film and the journey’s progress, the physical aspect of the number is an important device. In a work that highlights the incredible instability of the journey that Sayra and Willy are making, the number is a concrete message of safety. The repetition of the number proves that while they have so little and that while there is so much danger surrounding them, there is this idea of the end and of hope, of the final result of crossing the border — the dream Sayra and Willy share when he finally concedes that he would live with her in New Jersey.