Sin Nombre (2009) Cary Fukunaga

I had heard about this film from a friend of mine, Tenoch Huerta, who is part of the cast - plays the leader of the Mara Salvatrucha at the beginning of the movie - and he had told me, he felt very proud of the movie.  He said I should watch it, but I never got to it, until now that I'm searching for movies that have to do with immigration.

I liked the movie.  Predictable as it is, I think it works.  It's cruel and raw, and though it's nothing we've never seen before, (Cidade de Deus, 2002) it describes, accurately enough, the life in the Mexican south border.  I like the way Fukunaga intertwines the love story, with what people have to go through in order to cross to the United States, with what it means to be part of the Mara Salvatrucha.  The connecting thread of this three themes, as well as the leitmotiv of the film, becomes the desperate need to belong.  Saira mentions how she's never felt accepted nowhere, which makes her decide to follow Casper, a guy who just risked his life to save hers; Saira's uncle and father are migrating to where they think they belong, which is next to their family; Casper isn't able to defend his girlfriend due to fear of being kicked out of the Maras; Smiley kills Casper because it is the test he needs to pass in order to truly belong to the Mara Salvatruchas.  

In the end, even though it might seem like a very local theme, it truly is treating a much more deeper, meaningful and universal matter, it is confronting us, asking us, "how far are you willing to go in order to belong?"  We end up incapable of judging the characters because we know where they come from, we know how they feel, in all different kind of ways, we have been them, and we too have done things that go against our nature in order to belong.