Sin Nombre, the 2009 film by Cary Fukunaga, presents a look at the journey of immigrants and the life of the Mexican gangs and how the intertwine with one another. Just as the stories of the gang and immigrants meld and weave with one another so do the themes of relationship and how they create family.

The story of Sin Nombre begins with the initiation of a young boy, eventually named El Smiley, to the Mara Salvaturcha gang of Mexico. Quite quickly the viewer is invited into the gang through his initiation as much as the boy is. Yet being beat is not what allows him into the gang, it is the murder of a rival gang member is what brings the boy into the gang fully.

However Smiley is still an innocent. In the scene where he, and our lead Willy aka Casper, kill the rival gang member we see a dynamic of relationships. In the gang family is not determined by the blood in the veins but rather the blood split to or for the gang. Before Simely kills the man we see Lil' Mago using a very fatherly gestures towards the boy. For the gang the gestures of family fill all the roles. Mago is the father, Willy the elder brother.

Yet we do not see this transferred to anyone outside of the gang. We learn Willy has a girlfriend and she is not welcomed in as a person, but rather as a communal object for the family to use. She is not given the familial agency that Smiley is.

In the scene where they kill the rival member we see that not only is Willy indoctrinated but also plays along. His role to Smiley is the big brother. His hands are the ones holding Smiley's stable and giving advice. Yet we see Willy is not completely immune to this. Just as Smiley winces so does he. A connection is there, one of family, with out being blood. There seems to be a want of an innocent relationship. Earlier , when Smiley is being kicked to be considered part of the Mara we see that Willy hesitated.

What the film grasps at; family is made by the bonds of the collective. Family for Willy and Smiley is not created by the blood the bore them but rather the blood that they spill for one another. They form into a collective family circuit with their gestures and movements. Mago becomes not only leader but father, his power in words. It infects the rest of the gang to become a twisted sense of family. Willy becomes the big brother who lures in Smiley's to become little brothers. Once he kills the gang member Smiley becomes woven into the gang. He intern, becomes an older brother once he goes after Willy later in the film.

In the world of Sin Nombre family becomes everything. By examining the gestures of character we see how family unfolds as a unit. When one examines the relationships of family we see how the film's narrative unfolds along these familial built lines.