I mentioned that over the holiday I spent alot of time watching movies. One film that I watched was

Sin Nombre

. There are pretty much two stories rolled into one film. We have the story of Sayra, a Honduran teenager who reconnects with her estranged father before heading to el Norte, the United States. Then we have the story of Casper, a member of the Mara Salvatrucha who also ends up heading North, but to escape his violent past, not to chase the “American dream”.

Familiar with immigrant experiences and Latino street organizations, nothing in the film really surprised me: not the brutality of the Maras nor the brutalities of crossing multiple borders. What the brutalities lacked though were context. We never see why a young boy, nicknamed “Smiley” decides to join la Mara under Casper. We hear the usual talk of family and protection from the second in command, Lil’ Mago, pero are not given any reasons as to why why young men in El Salvador and other parts of Central America would choose the Maras. On the other side we never are shown why Sayra and her family chooses to leave Honduras for the United States. Again we are given the narrative of family unity but with no sense of economic or political reasons for migration.

Don’t get me wrong. It wasn’t a bad movie. I empathized with the characters pero I think that part of that was because Sayra’s and Casper’s story wasn’t a new one or unexpected.