„No name„(Spanish. Sin nombre) Is a 2009 American-Mexican film about youth street gangs and illegal migration in Latin America. Has won a number of awards, including the 2009 Sundance Film Festival.

Plot

The action begins in the Mexican city of Tapachula on the border with Guatemala. Willie, nicknamed El Casper, recruits 12-year-old Benito to the local branch of the international gang Mara Salvatruch; As an initiation, the boy is beaten, nicknamed El Smiley, and forced to shoot a captive from a hostile street gang. Willie hides from his comrades that instead of fighting other gangs, he spends time with his girlfriend Martha Marlene; At the same time, Martha Marlene believes that Willie does not take her to meet with her comrades because he has another girlfriend in the gang. Martha Marlene comes to the Mara gathering in the cemetery, and the bandits realize that Willie was lying. They beat him up for lying; meanwhile, the leader of the gang, Lil Mago, takes Martha Marlene away, tries to rape her and accidentally kills her. Terrified Willie Lil Mago explains: „you will find another."

Meanwhile, 15-year-old Saira with her uncle Orlando and father Horacio are sent from Honduras to New Jersey, USA, from where her father has already been deported once. The family travels through the jungle to Tapachula, where, with a crowd of other illegal migrants, they settle on the roofs of freight train cars and travel to northern Mexico, towards the American border. Lil Mago with Willie and Smiley attack the train and start robbing migrants; Lil Mago motivates the raid by the fact that the gang has bad finances, and in addition, there may be members of enemy gangs among the migrants. When Saira’s father refuses to give the money, Mago tries to rape the girl. Willie can not stand it, hacks Mago with his machete and orders Smiley to get off the train, while he himself remains on the car. Smiley informs the bandits about Willie and Mago. New leader El Sol accuses Smiley of conspiring with a traitor; to atone for his guilt, Smiley undertakes to personally find and execute Willie. He is soon joined by El Scarface, a member of the Mara Salvatruchi branch in Tierre Blanca, with his two fighters. The bandits quickly manage to get on the trail of Willie thanks to his memorable tattoos on his face and arms.

Meanwhile, on the train, Saira rescues Willie from other migrants, who perceive the tattooed young man as a dangerous bandit and try to push him off the roof of the carriage. She became friends with him despite warnings from both her father (who says that Willie is a murderer) and Willie himself (who tries to explain to her that he is a dead man, and his execution is only a matter of time).

In Orizaba, migrants have to temporarily get off the train cars to avoid a police raid; here they are awaited by Smiley, Scarface and a group of bandits. Willie barely manages to get back on the train; He is saved by the fact that Scarface is caught in a firefight with a hostile gang, probably Calle 18 (18th Street Gang).

Early in the morning near Mexico City, Willie jumps off the train car, and to his surprise and chagrin, Saira leaves his family and follows him. Willie turns to Aunt Tonya, his longtime acquaintance from the criminal world. Aunt Tonya agrees to help the young people make their way north; for transport, she offers a car transporter carrying wrecked cars to a junkyard in Monterrey. As soon as the transporter departs, Tonya calls El Sol and she informs him of Willie’s route; she does not dare to lie to the representative of Mara Salvatruchi.

The bandits are waiting for the car transporter at the final point of the route. Willie and Saira are saved by disgust: they had previously gone down from the transporter to wash themselves. In a refugee house for migrants, Saira learns about the fate of his family, who remained on the roof of the carriage. Her father fled from the police, fell under the wheels of a train and died, and Orlando’s uncle was arrested and deported from Mexico.

Willie and Saira make it to the American border. In payment for the crossing of the Rio Grande, Willie gives his digital camera – the only thing he has left in memory of Martha Marlene. Saira is the first to cross. When she gets to the American coast, bandits appear in the Mexican: Mara Salvatrucha has finally caught up with the fugitive. Young Smiley kills his ex-friend Willie with a revolver.

The last frames of the film show the events that followed. Saira from a shopping mall on American soil calls his father’s wife in New Jersey. El Smiley, a full-fledged member of the Mara Salvatruch gang, gets a tattoo on the inner lip. Uncle Orlando crosses the river on a raft, again striving to get to the United States.

Cast

Bandits:


Edgar Flores – El Casper Willie

Christian Ferrer – El Smiley BenitoSmiling„)

Tenoch Huerta Mejia – Lil 'Mago __(trans. „Little wizard„), The leader of the Tapachul branch of Mary Salvatruchi

Luis Fernando Pe_a – El Sol (trans. „The sun„), Second after Mago in the hierarchy of the Tapachul branch

Gabino Rodriguez – El Scarface (trans. „Face with a scar„), A member of the Thierra Blanc branch of the gang

Catalina Lopez – Tia To_a’s aunt


Civilians:


Paulina Gaitan – Sayra

Diana Garcia – Martha Marlene

Gerardo Taracena – Horacio, Saira’s father

Guillermo Villegas – Orlando, Saira’s uncle


Reviews

Film critics took the film positively. „No name" received 88% of positive reviews according to the version Rotten tomatoes; Metacritic gave the film 77 out of 100 points. Review in Washington Post compared Fukunaga’s script to typical works by famed Mexican directors del Toro, Gonzalez I_arritu and Cuar_n, and called the film „elegant" and „pure cinematography." Ebert noted not only the beauty of the shooting, but also the political background of the film:

Anonymous is an astounding film that shows the incredible hardships that people are willing to go through to get to El Norte. Yes, illegal immigration is a complex problem. Seeing a foreigner without documents, one should not immediately make the usual assumptions about him. This man may have risked his life for weeks or months to get here in search of what we, without much thought, call the „American Dream."

Original text „Sin Nombre" is a remarkable film, showing the incredible hardships people will endure in order to reach El Norte… Yes, the issue of illegal immigration is a difficult one. When we encounter an undocumented alien, we should not be too quick with our easy assumptions. That person may have put his life on the line for weeks or months to come here, searching for what we so easily describe as the American dream.

However, not everyone liked the film. Review The Hollywoord Reporter notes that although „No Name" is beautifully filmed, in the second half of the film the atmosphere is not tense enough, and the main characters – Willie and Saira – are not sufficiently developed in the script, which is only partially compensated by good acting.

Awards

The film has won a number of film awards, including:


USA Film Drama Awards for Directing Award and Excellence in Cinematography at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival;

the 2009 Edinburgh Film Festival Skillset New Directors Award;

Bronze Horse, FIPRESCI (Best Film by International Film Critics), Best Actor (Edgar Flores) and Best Emerging Director at the 2009 Stockholm International Film Festival.