Sin Nombre – 7.5

A harrowing portrait of a poor Mexican girl who happens to be an illegal-immigrant-to-be. The story doesn’t emerge as hers until after a first half that is caught up in gang violence and initiation. Echoes of other Latin American stories – Amores Perros and Maria Full of Grace in particular – are unavoidable, with Gomorrah in mind, too, as much for the grittiness and air of hopelessness that coats the unwashed bodies as for any plot similarities. At the end, you feel you have witnessed a slice of life, as it is desperately lived in poorer societies. Maybe we are too jaded or removed to draw any conclusions, but not to feel.