Sin Nombre

A couple weeks ago, my sister, my brother-in-law, and I took a trip to Atlanta to catch some NHRA drag racing.  But instead of just driving up to the dragway and back, we decided to make a weekend of it and spend Saturday in Atlanta.  And I gotta say, Atlanta's pretty dope.  Should you ever find yourself down this direction, be sure to check it out.  For my money, it's the greatest big city in the South.  (For the record, I have yet to visit many of the South's most famous metropolitan areas but, from what I've heard, Atlanta's tops many lists of those in the know.)

Anyway, while in Atlanta, we made a point of taking advantage of the wide film selection to which America's bigger cities are privy.  As badly as I wanted to check out Atlanta's lone Landmark Theatre, I apparently wanted to see Sin Nombre worse.

I was right to trust my instincts.  Sin Nombre is a great movie.  Easily the best I've seen since the 2009 film year commenced.

Brief synopsis:

Hesitant Honduran girl sets out for Mexico-USA border with father, uncle, and brother. Southern Mexican boy saves Honduran girl's life, earns ire of his gang, heads north with Honduran girl in an attempt to save his own skin.  Bond formed, the pair wind up in the midst of a terrifying albeit thrilling rush to the border and (hopefully) relative safety.

Like a lot of great movies, the sequence of events winds up being far less important than the circumstances in which they take place.  Life is far from perfect in the United States, but goddamn it, we've got it pretty good.  Watching Sin Nombre left me with too overwhelming feelings.  First, I felt extremely lucky to have been born where I was born.  Second, I felt a great sadness for all the people who desperately want to enjoy the same luxuries I do, but are forced to endure unthinkable hardship before they can even think of enjoying them.

It's been nearly two full weeks since I saw Sin Nombre and I really thought a lot of the emotion I'd associated with it had faded, but now that I'm revisiting the film, the difficult-to-reconcile feelings are rushing back.

In the interest of curbing an emotional outpouring before it begins, let me just say this: you really ought to see Sin Nombre as soon as you're able.  It's still playing at many locations around the country.  But don't wait, movies like this rarely stay in theatres as long as they should.  And trust me, you don't want to miss this one.

NOW PLAYING IN... (click your city for venues and showtimes)

• Seattle
• Portland
• New York
• DC
• LA
• And for all my Savannians, if you're up for a relatively lengthy trip: Atlanta & Gainesville

[Note: I'm probably vastly overestimating my readership, as is.  But if you happen to read this blog and I haven't listed your city above, please let me know and I'll be certain to do so in the future.]