Cinematic Im/mobilities in the Planetary Now

Abstract

At the beginning of Cary Joji Fukunaga's 2009 film Sin Nombre, which tells the story of a group of Hondurans attempting to cross into the United States via Mexico by riding aboard a fictional version of the freight train known as 'La Bestia' or 'El tren de la muerte,' we encounter a scene of im/mobility. 1 In the film's first shot, we see a path in an autumn-coloured forest leading away from the camera until it disappears on the brightly lit horizon, with the camera slowly tracking forward as if following the path. In the second shot, we see a young man sitting motionless on a chair in a small and dark room, staring towards the camera, which slowly moves towards him. In the third shot, we see the path again, establishing it as the object of the young man's gaze, before the spatial relations are clarified in the fourth shot, which shows him from behind, staring at what reveals itself to be a poster in the adjoining room, now framed by the thick stone walls that separate the two rooms.