Director
Cary Fukunaga’s moving piece Sin Nombre
culminates in Sayra finally reaching the United States and getting in touch with
her step mom. The final two minutes of the movie Fukunaga presents a stark
contrast to the struggles the immigrants had to face. Sayra and her family came
from areas of poverty trying to reach the United States for a better life. This
better life is realized for Sayra when she is shown walking through a plot of
grass and the camera pans over to a Sears shopping center. The new life her
father had envisioned for her is structured around the opportunities that the
surplus of goods the United States offers. To encourage Sayra to take the risky
journey to the United States her Uncle told her that Sayra’s home in Honduras
did not offer her anything, but the United States’ had more than enough opportunities
for them all. The lack of cars within the Sears parking lot shows how the prospects
for a better life that the Sears represents for Sayra is ultimately just for
her.
Sayra’s new life does not come without obstacles.
Although the Sears offers her possibilities and hope, the next scene shows
Sayra walking behind a fence and avoiding the gaze of the police. The fence in
the scene represents how while her new life offers opportunities it is not
without obstacles and road blocks. Although Sayra’s life has the potential to
be better, she still is not a legal immigrant within the United States which
could prove to be detrimental. Just as her own father was deported originally,
Sayra’s new status as an illegal immigrant also provides her with that same
chance of discovery.
When Sayra finally approaches a payphone after sitting in
the parking lot of a Sam’s Club, she picks up the receiver and recalls the
number her father forced into her mind. While Sayra throughout the movie
offered resistance to her father’s attempts at integrating her into his new
family, this final act of a call for help as well as the death of her father
allows Sayra to accept and take comfort in her new family. Sayra’s step mother
responds happily when she hears Sayra on the phone and Sayra takes comfort in
this welcome shown by her smiling but then the tragic news of her father’s
passing as well as the circumstances of her arrival finally catch up to Sayra.
In the final seconds of the film Sayra can be seen almost to tears with relief
and all the other emotions she has not allowed herself to feel in order to
achieve the goal of reaching the United States.
In the last scene of the movie there is a song that
plays. The song called “La última palabra” is a love song to a woman who has
possibly passed away. This song is used to juxtapose the death of Willy, who is
Sayra’s protector, and the beginning of a new life for Sayra with the couple in
the song that can no longer be together. Just as the couple is separated forever,
so is Sayra from her life before she entered the United States.
Hey Chloe,
ReplyDeleteI think you are right about the ending scene portraying the options the US can give Sayra. It starts with a wide shot of her walking across an open area of grass to reach the interstate. As she continues walking, the shots get more narrow and show more specific backgrounds; like the shopping center and later more specifically just her and the cop car. I agree that this represents her having more life options in the US but with a cost and a risk. At the end, you mentioned the song playing called “La última palabra.” In English this means the last word. That’s a clever title to put in the film after all of the deaths that have occurred. You could consider it a death to Sayra’s former life too.
I really enjoyed reading this post. The thing that you pointed out that I thought displayed one of the tragedies of the story was when Sayra recalled the number her father made her remember. I felt Sayra was quite bitter towards her father throughout the film. I'm guessing he may have abandoned her for the United States and she feels the only reason he returned for her was because he was deported. But then I think Sayra ultimately realized the immense obstacles her father had to face not only once, but twice, and appreciates his courage. She may also feel some guilt for not having truly forgiving him, then abandoning him before his untimely death.On top of that, Sayra now will have the opportunity to understand what it was like all those years that her father had to constantly watch his back in the US.
ReplyDelete*forgiven
DeleteI just enjoyed reading your post a lot. It is very clear that you put a lot of thought in the scenes. Especially a very important scene like when Sayra first grasps the fact that she is finally in the United States after everything you went through on top of her life before meeting her on the train. This move their Sayra her father and Orlando trying is trying to make to come to America is indeed very detrimental but also their only option to escape the poverty stricken horrific life they have for only wanting a better opportunity and being with the rest of their family. It proved to be so detrimental Sayra's father lost her life over it.
ReplyDeleteThough I've seen the movie a few times now, you presented several points I didn't consider or missed. The Sears parking lot as a representation of opportunity for Sayra is an interesting perspective. Sayra's caution demonstrates how terrible the conditions in Honduras were. The fact that she would rather risk dying during the trek to the US than stay in Honduras says a lot about the living situation. I also like your interpretation of the fence as a representation of obstacles Sayra must face in her new environment. She's cautious at this point, but she knows the journey was worth it. We're able to notice a bit of relief as Sayra finally talks to her step mother on the phone. Finally, the point you made about “La última palabra” is definitely something I would not have concluded had I not read your post. It makes sense that they would end the film with a song that represents a transition into her new life.
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ReplyDeleteYour post was very nice to read. I really liked how you pointed out the Sears and Sams Club in the background. I found it ironic that the director put that as a big "Welcome to America" sign, since Americans are known as consumers. I also did not pick up on the song playing in the back ground. It is nice that you pointed that out. It is sweet that the director included that as a goodbye to Willy.
ReplyDeleteAmazing pick up on the music in the end. I feel like when you analyze a scene this can be missed because of the narrative and more visible symbols. Not only is she separated from Willy via the love song, Sayara had been separated from all form of male attachment.
ReplyDeleteWith the empty lot I do not always see the idea of a land of opportunity. It can also symbolize shes in a new place with less resources than which she came. She must still sneak her way into a place of opportunity and rely on what was given to her; just because shes entered the US she is not free to do as she wants.
Your post is incredibly insightful, and I appreciate the points within the film that you chose to focus on within your blog. Like the others who have commented on here, I found the observation and reasoning you proposed behind the Sears parking lot as a symbol for the opportunity at a better life and the "American Dream" to be interesting. It's a fundamental contrast to see Sayra come from such a poverished position with struggle to the freedom America provides, yet there is a sense that she is entirely free. She has to rely on family she has never met, her father and uncle died in their travels, and a boy who she started to trust and develop comfort with was killed right before her eyes.
ReplyDeleteThe last scene in this movie is wonderful for the fact that it lets the audience decompress and really look back at the entire adventure that has unfurled. In those few seconds, we remember that she has left all she has known, met and lost her father and lost the one person she felt connected too, Willey. As for the shopping centers around, I felt like that was an ironic way to point out her possible future in America;a person travels all this way and suffers such hardship just to work as a part of the Geek squad at some BestBuy. Great job.
ReplyDeleteI also took note of the way Fukunaga completed Sayra's storyline at the end of the film. The scene in which Sayra is speaking to her stepmother and sighing in relief (even smiling a little) inflates the viewer with a small bubble of hope (particularly immediately following the action-and-killing-pumped climax of the film), but I did find it incredibly important that Fukunaga included a shot of Sayra glancing sideways at a passing cop car. That shot served as a paramount reminder for the viewer that the danger has not nearly ended for Sarya, and it was paralleled by the shot of Smiley getting his first gang tattoo, which functions as a reminder that Smiley also faces a significantly dismal life. I also loved that you drew attention to the detail of the song playing at the end of the film. I did not know that about the song, and found it eerily fitting.
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