Sin Nombre

In Sin Nombre, violence against women is not at the forefront of the film. The film’s primary focus is on Willy, known to his fellow gang members as Casper, and his gang. The main storyline follows Willy and his turmoil with the Mara Salvatrucha gang (MS-13). The secondary focus of the film, its second storyline, focuses on Sayra, a young woman who is traveling with her father and uncle to New Jersey. Near the beginning of the film, the audience is introduced to Willy’s girlfriend, Martha. Not much is revealed about her, and she is seen as someone that Willy deeply cares about. He must protect her from the reality of the gangs, and he cannot let her identity be known to his brothers in the gang. For instance, in one scene Willy is with Martha and they are approached by some members of Willy’s gang. El Sol, the second in command, asks Willy if Martha is “his girl” to which he responds that she’s “just a friend”. He must do this in order to protect her, because he knows what happens to women who the gang is aware of. Later on, Martha shows up at the MS-13 gang meeting and is assaulted by Lil Mago, the leader of the gang. He then accidentally kills her. 

This accidental killing of Martha is so normalized in the culture of this film that it’s rarely brought up after the incident. In a gang culture, women are surely seen as secondary, and likely often a burden to gang activities. This doesn’t sit right with me. I know it’s just a movie, but this scene felt so real. There’s no way things like this don’t occur frequently in a gang environment, and that’s heartbreaking to me. 

Sayra’s story is a bit different. She is told by her father that she will be safe and protected throughout her journey to New Jersey. Sayra and her family board the train to begin their journey, and they make it safely through the first night. However, the next afternoon, it begins to rain on the immigrants as they ride on top of the train. The train comes to a halt, and Lil Mago, Willy, and Smiley (a young boy and new gang member) leave their place on the train to terrorize the immigrants. Lil Mago begins to assault Sayra and threatens to kill her, but Willy kills him instead, letting Sayra live. 

This context is extremely important to understanding why women are portrayed the way they are in Sin Nombre. The perspective of the film is very patriarchal, and women are not seen as valuable, especially to gang members. To them, women are a lower class, and it is okay to take advantage of them. Women are represented as submissive, disposable, and insignificant. The culture of this film allows this sexist view to be easily glossed over as a whole, and I think it’s important to focus on these issues and determine why they’re glossed over and seen as less significant.