a film by Cary Fukunaga
Focusing on the plight of Honduran illegal immigrants making the dangerous journey through Mexico, the story follows teenager Sayra who is risking everything to find a better life in America with her family. On this fateful first step of her journey she encounters Casper, a tough gang member placed in an impossible situation when a violent retaliation turns his gang against him. As Sayra and Casper's paths cross on a train leading out of the country, with the gang in close pursuit, they must rely on each other if either of them is to make it across the border alive.
El Casper is initiating a young boy into his notoriously brutal gang. The boy is given the name El Smiley following a violent initiation. Casper is romantically involved with a girl, Martha Marlene, but fearing for her safety, keeps their relationship a secret from the other gang members. When she follows him to a gathering of the gang, the leader, Lil' Mago, insists on escorting her away in private, despite Casper's protests. Following his failed rape attempt, Lil' Mago accidentally kills the girl, then coldly tells Casper "You'll find another".
Mago then brings Casper and Smiley to La Bombilla, a location along the train tracks where illegal immigrants stow away on passing trains for travel to the United States. Among the many making this journey is the Honduran family – Sayra, her father and her uncle, who are on their way to New Jersey to live with relatives. Mago, Casper and Smiley board the train and rob the passengers of any money they have until Mago spots Sayra and attempts to molest her. Casper, still grief-stricken and seeing parallels with Mago's treatment of his girlfriend, intervenes, killing Mago and urging Smiley off the train. Throughout the train journey, Sayra repeatedly approaches Casper with concern and curiosity, despite her father's advice. Smiley returns to the gang, telling them what happened. Furious, the new gang leader, El Sol, accuses Smiley of collusion. Smiley timidly protests, begging to be sent to kill Casper to prove his loyalty.
On the train, Casper, who has smuggled gang members in the past, knows the nuances of the journey, instructing fellow passengers when to get off the train and run around the station to avoid immigration officers. At one point Casper is with Sayra's family, but not wanting the girl to face the dangers that surround his own life, he leaves the train quietly while they are sleeping, only to discover that Sayra has followed him. The two journey north on a car transporter, Casper evading local franchises of his gang which are all helping Smiley to track him down.
At a river crossing Casper pays their fares with the digital camera containing the cherished pictures of his murdered girlfriend and insists Sayra goes first. Just as she is half way across, the gang find Casper and after a desperate chase along the riverbank, he encounters Smiley, who shoots him dead. Sayra, now across the border in Texas, calls the phone number she had committed to memory and finally makes contact with her dead father's second family in New Jersey. Smiley, the young boy initiated into the gang by Casper, is now accepted by its members and gets a tattoo commemorating his loyalty.
The recipient of numerous major awards, writer/director Cary Fukunaga's debut feature is an unflinching and controversial tale of gang warfare, loyalty and redemption, set against the harsh backdrop of modern Mexico. Part road movie, part gangster film, part love story, this bleak yet humane film paints a vivid picture of the reality of life in Central America for would-be immigrants to the United States.
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