Sin Nombre

This film is about a very interesting story, a very interesting issue and a very interesting state of life: that of central American immigrants making the journey to the United States, not entirely officially.
The film though, frankly, could be set in any situation. The actual contingencies of the train journey through Mexico and the reaching of the Texas border seem like a pretty generic backdrop to any road movie (as this kind-of-counts as). This is not a political film at all, and really focusses on the action and the characters caught up in it, the Mexican gang culture far more primary than any specific analyses of Spanish-language illegal immigrant culture. This is a little of a shame, there's an important film to be made about this subject; this general comment though shouldn't really be a criticism of the film itself, though the thought does stick in the mind.
What we have is a very sub-City of God portrait of gang culture. This is a bit cruel, it is fitting and there are some shocking realist scenes of violence. We never though felt truly part of the action, never quite got a sense of the suffocating atmosphere and visceral horror and macabre thrill of gang violence. Where the film is more succesful is in having a look at the characters caught in these spirals; they are nicely drawn, more than ciphers. The family, and the leading girl, are also competently put together.
For all this, not exacly subtle, characterisation, the jist of the film is really in the chasing of gangsters, and the love affair brewing in the centre of this. The story is handled just fine, the action, though never exactly gripping, is not overlong and generally chigs along nicely. There isn't much more to it really; it isn't particulalry well shot or profoundly handled, just a pretty standard chase.
This is an unremarkable film transported, seemingly almost accidently, into a fascinating and underused context. More films on this subject, e ask for, but there's no need to make too many like this.