'Sin Nombre' makes a name for itself

Some movies don't just deliver gripping fictional stories, but yank viewers by the collar and drag them into worlds they might have vaguely known existed, but likely never paid much attention to.

"Sin Nombre" ("Without A Name"), director Cary Joji Fukunaga's feature debut, is a heavy social issue drama, part thriller and part romance. It earned the directing and the excellence in cinematography awards in the U.S. Dramatic Competition at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival.

The story is all about the extremes of the human character: the desire to strive for betterment, even at the risk of one's life; and the debasement of wasted lives that can end up inflicting ignoble cruelties on others.

Fukunaga makes poignant use of contrasts in both his plot and cinematography to tell the parallel stories of two youths from diametrically opposite walks of life - the innocent Sayra (Paulina Gaitan), a Honduran teenager who tentatively hopes for a better future; and the weary Willy, or Casper by his designated gang name (Edgar Flores), a Mexican teenager neck deep in the savage Mara Salvatrucha gang of Tapachula, Mexico.

Sayra's estranged father comes back from the United States, where he has a new family, to bring the young girl and her brother back with him to New Jersey. Though unsure about following her father, life in Honduras has no real prospects for her, so Sayra goes along.

That means making a perilous weeks-long journey through Guatemala and Mexico perched up atop freight trains, enduring rain, cold and sleepless nights. Many will die on the journey, but the promise of a better life with a happy ending hangs heavy throughout.

Willy is loyal to the "Mara," and his latest young recruit is Smiley (Kristyan Ferrer), who is a mere 12 years old. But Willy is also feeling the pull of the promise of something more pure from his girlfriend Martha Marlene (Diana Garcia).

Sayra and her relatives meet Willy on top of the train, where he and his gang buddies are about to rob the immigrants. But Willy cannot forgive the actions of vicious gang leader Lil'Mago (Tenoch Huerta Mejía), and ends up making a decision that will forever alter his, and Sayra's, future.

The young girl decides to endure uncertainty and peril to stand by a reluctant Willy. Was her choice the right one? One is tempted to say no, but the naiveté and foolishness of teenagers is a force to be reckoned with.

Eloquent is the contrast between two similar but also profoundly different scenes - Guatemalan children who cheer and throw apples at the immigrants as the train slowly moves through town, and, farther down the journey, Mexican children who shout insults and throw rocks at the same immigrants.

Sometimes, it's all about where you stand.