courtesy feb. 2009, fashion magazine
wednesday
march 112009
3
Film gives voice to those“Sin Nombre”
FiLMREViEW
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Sin Nombre,”a film produced by DiegoLuna and Gael García Bernal anddirected by Cary Fukunga,is the pow-erful story ofa Honduran teenager,Sayra,asshe endures the arduous journey fromHonduras to the United States.The storylinemay be fictional,but the problems and situ-ations are glaringly real.On Sunday night at Cubberley Auditorium,Fukunaga spoke to an audienceofstudents and answered questions before ascreening ofhis film.Fukunaga said namedit “Sin Nombre”(“without a name”inSpanish) as a memorial to the many undoc-umented immigrants who cross the borderand are voiceless and unrepresented in their journey.In preparation for the film,Fukungaspent two months in Central America toconduct first-hand research.He visited shel-ters,stayed in prison,rode freight trains andcommunicated with Honduran gangs.Heinterviewed people in the places he visitedand also met with local professors and statepolice.Fukunga used these experiences to writeand direct a film that would be palpably real.He not only wanted to open people’s eyes toa different world—he also wanted to sharethe danger himself.He recounted during theQ&A the gunshots from bandits on his trainride.However,instead ofleaving at themoment ofdanger,Fukunaga kept goingbecause he felt that after such an event,hecouldn’t “just leave them.”During the casting,Fukunga empha-sized that he wanted Central Americanactors who could portray the characters asclosely as possible.The cast was a mix of professional and amateur actors—some of them actual gang members.He assured theaudience that there was nothing “made up”in his movie.At the Sundance Film Festival,“SinNombre”won Best Cinematography,andFukunga won Best Director.However,thefilm can be painful for some to watch.Theharsh world shown is indeed the reality of many peoples’struggles;it stirs an array of emotions within the audience,exposing sen-timents oflove,fear,hatred and hope.Ifthe gripping story is not enough,theimages and juxtapositions in the film arebeautifully artistic.The gorgeous scenery of Central America is contrasted with the harshlife ofits underprivileged sectors.The typi-cal,Central American music throughout thefilm provides an upbeat and hopeful con-trast to the dire and impossible situations of the film.The plot of“Sin Nombre”follows twoinitially unrelated narrative paths.Willy (Edgar Flores) recruits young Smiley (Kristian Ferrer) into the “MaraSalvatrucha,”a tough gang in impoverishedTapalucha,Mexico.Smiley is initiated by being kicked and beaten by the other gangmembers and then ordered to kill a rival inorder to prove his loyalty and strength.Within the gang,Willy acts like a brothertowards Smiley,helping him arrange furtiveencounters with his girlfriend,MartaMarlene (Diana García).The other narrative path is the story of Sayra (Paulina Gaitan),a teenage girl from apoor community in Honduras who joins herpreviously absent father and uncle on ahope-filled journey to New Jersey.Their journey through Central America mostly consists ofriding freight trains with hun-dreds ofother immigrants.The two storiesintersect when Lil’Mago forces Willy andSmiley to help him rob innocent refugees of their money;Willy and Sarya meet and bothoftheir lives are dramatically changedthrough the encounter.The film appropriately balances dra-matic plot with glaring realism.The mostterrifying moments still seem completely natural.The film never feels fake or forced;instead,it communicates truth as efficiently as a documentary does.The gang is violent,threatening and realistic—however,Willy gives the audience a different insight intogang life,showing his redemption,his ten-derness with Marta and his admirable char-acter with Sayra.At its heart,“Sin Nombre”is an evoca-tive film about redemption,faith,romanceand gang warfare.It delightfully displays thecontrast between the brutal life in the ghet-tos and the stunning beauty ofCentralAmerican landscapes.
— nicole RODRIGUEZcontact nicole: nicole13@stanford.edu
all photos courtesy focus features
L
ast Saturday night,I entered ManzanitaDining to find it completely trans-formed by the eerie glow ofblue andgreen lights and looming digital sound equip-ment.I found one thing to be certain—thiswas not your ordinary university a cappellaconcert.That night,Stanford Harmonics pre-sented “ShamRock,”a show that deliveredvocal rock with the intensity and heart-pounding exhilaration that Harmonics is wellknown for.Fresh offofthe release oftheir newalbum,“Escape Velocity,”along with fournominations for the 2009 Contemporary ACappella Recording Awards (CARA),theHarmonics were more than ready to rock out.The evening began with a performancefrom Stanford Taiko,who nearly blew theaudience members out oftheir seats with twoear-splitting,earth-shaking pieces.Not to beoutdone,Stanford Harmonics took to thestage and gave a performance worthy oftheirconcert slogan:“Everything you know about acappella is about to change.”Their first songbegan with sounds ofwhite noise and radiotransmission that was produced by the singersthemselves.Equipped with individual micro-phones,the singers then launched into fullvocal harmonies complemented by beat-box-ing.Harmonics is known throughout the acappella community for their impressively accurate emulation ofmusical instruments,especially the pulsating bass and the vibrato of the electric guitar.Harmonics also make noshort use oftechnical equipment;they installed booming amps on either side ofthestage and a soundboard at the back oftheroom.In additional to the sound equipment,there was also remarkable lighting (includinglasers!) in the background.Throughout theconcert,these effects greatly enhanced themood ofthe pieces,highlighting certain areasofstage choreography and adding that extratouch ofdrama that the audience went wildfor.Certain crowd pleasers included a cover of Kevin Rudolf’s “Let It Rock”and a mash-up of Aerosmith’s “Dream On”and Eminem’s “Singfor the Moment.”At times,the atmospherebecame like that ofa rock concert,with audi-ence members dancing and cheering loudly.Kate McGrath ‘10 brought down the house
Harmonics: out tochange what you knowabout a cappella
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