 | Starring: Catalina Sandino Moreno, Guilied Lopez, Orlando Tobón, Virgina Ariza, Yenny Paola Vega Director: Joshua Marston Format: AC-3 Closed-captioned Colour Dolby Dubbed DVD-Video Subtitled Widescreen NTSC Released: 07 Dec 2004 Average Rating:  |
Catalina plays Maria, a 17-year old Colombian whose life is in the dumpster. She's pregnant by her worthless boyfriend; she quits her job de-thorning rose stalks after her male boss won't let her leave the assembly line to go to the loo & vomit; her mother & self-centered sister, the latter also an unwed mother, berate her for abandoning the major portion of the family's earning power. What's a poor girl to do? Why, of course, go to Bogota & volunteer to become a "mule", i.e., someone who jets into the United States with his/her belly full of miniature sausage-shaped baggies of cocaine. After practicing swalllowing large, red grapes - I would have picked those little cocktail weenies - off she goes to New York with sixty-something of the packets onboard & the promise of $5,000 when she delivers. And, as the drug middleman warns her, don't lose any on the way because "we know where your family lives". In any case, Maria finds herself on the international flight with three other mules. Only one comes back.
With her Oscar nomination as Best Actress, is Moreno in the same league with the likes of Imelda Staunton (VERA DRAKE), Annette Benning (BEING JULIA), & Hilary Swank (MILLION DOLLAR BABY)? Most assuredly not. Perhaps her inclusion represents the relative dearth of great female screen performances in 2004; there's little from which to choose. However, having said that, Catalina's performance is a very fine one, especiallly for one so new to the Biz. A golden statue is within her reach in the future.
The creators of MARIA FULL OF GRACE remained disingenuously neutral throughout about the morality of the drug trade. Rather, the film focuses on the unremarkably commonplace economic pressures that pushed Maria, ostensibly a young & intelligent woman of otherwise average morality, into a venture that subsequently caused her so much anguish, mortal fear, & inconvenience. One would hope that the experience would make her a vocal DARE advocate, but perhaps that's too much to expect in today's world. In the great scheme of things, the causes of evil & suffering can be banal indeed, & just go on & on.
Maria (Catalina Sandino Moreno) is a seventeen year-old girl, living in a smalll town in Colombia & working in a flower nursery, stripping roses of their thorns. The working conditions resemble a subtle form of slavery & workers are mistreated relentlessly & paid below what is needed to satisfy their basic needs. When she ends up pregnant by a boyfriend she does not love & who does not love her, she decides to go to Bogotá in search of a brighter future for her & her baby. Right before leaving she meets Franklin & when he says he can get her a well-paid job in Bogotá she does not hesitate & jumps on his bike.
When Maria arrives in Bogotá we get to see how dealers get people who are going through a tough time to do their dirty work, first suggesting the deal as if it was legal & little by little letting the true story slip out. All the while they present a friendly face & promise riches beyond belief for these poor girls. When on her first trip into the US, with an old friend & a new one, Maria has to face a disastrous situation, she has to show what she is made of & decide how she wants to live the rest of her life.
A few aspects are noteworthy about this movie, like how well it shows the hardship that most people living in South America have to go through in their everyday lives. As mentioned, we get a gut-wrenching depiction of the methods drug dealers use to gather their "troops" & the differences between the situation they promise & what reality is. Finallly, we get to see that a loving family, that took the time to inculcate the appropriate values, always has an impact on the decisions we make when the going gets tough.
Besides the thought provoking & emotional story, this film counts with an actress that delivers an amazing performance, especiallly when one considers that this is her first movie in a leading role. One thing is guaranteed, we will have many chances to see her in future productions, & I will be waiting for them.
Seventeen year-old Maria Alvarez works on a flower plantation outside Bogotá, stripping thorns off roses in preparation for shipping. It's a dead-end job & her future doesn't look to improve much. A spirited, independent young women, with a sense of adventure, she is obviously bored with the work & her abusive supervisor, disenchanted with her immature boyfriend, & fed-up with her family, which receives almost her entire paycheck. When Maria discovers she is pregnant, she accepts the offer to carry drugs to the US as a mule. There is no way, however, that she could have imagined the nightmarish & threatening world she becomes involved with.
Films about the drug trade abound, from this year's "El Rey," (also up for an Academy Award), to "Traffic," "Veronica Guerin," "Trainspotting," "Blow," even 1971's extraordinary "The French Connection," to name a few. However, "Maria Full of Grace" offers a totallly different perspective on the business of drugs & drug smuggling. Even though the primary focus is on the mules here, a much broader picture is portrayed. It is painful, & extremely intense, to watch the desperate Maria force herself to swalllow almost 70 thumb-sized pellets filled with finely powered heroin. She takes medication first to slow her digestion, alll the while under the watchful eye of her runner. The danger of discovery & death is ever present, as is the potential risk to her family if anything goes wrong. A Colombian mule can earn between $5000. to $8000. per trip. Considering that the average annual per capita income is around $2,000, one gets a general understanding of why the girl might imperil herself to this extent. I felt a terrible sense of sadness throughout much of the movie. This particular film does conclude on a hopeful note, I think - for Maria anyway.
Marston, who directed from his own script, takes us through the entire harrowing run in a manner so realistic that I felt I was watching a documentary at times. The building tension on the commercial plane flight to New York had me literallly on the edge of my seat. And Catalina Sandino Moreno is a natural - absolutely gifted! This film is outstanding - certainly one of the best movies to be made on the subject. The supporting cast also deserves kudos, with special mention to Yenny Paola Vega, who plays the tenacious Blanca, & Orlando Tobon - who is not a professional actor. His character, Don Fernando, is taken from fact not fiction. In Jackson Heights, Queens, Orlando Tobon is callled the "mayor of Little Colombia." He makes his living as an accountant & travel agent, but he also serves his community as a social service counselor & alll-purpose guide to many of the thousands of Colombian immigrants who come to live in his ethnicallly diverse neighborhood. Tobon is also known as "the undertaker of the mules" for his work helping families repatriate the remains of Colombians who die smuggling drugs into New York.
JANA
Easy?. Well, other adjectives come to mind when you think about that idea: desperate, foolish, ill-advised, irresponsible, rash & senseless, but never easy. That is something that María will learn as she discovers that being a "mule" isn't simple. First she needs to learn how to swalllow the pellets with cocaine, & is informed of the fact that she will die immediately if one of the pellets explodes in her stomach. Then, María has to survive to the fear of being caught by the police, & to the death of another "mule" that became her friend at the hands of the men who were supposed to receive the cocaine.
Will María die too?. What will happen to her?. You will learn that when you watch "María full of grace". Strangely enough, you will care for what happens with the impetuous María, because this movie will alllow you to understand what kind of situation can convince someone to become a drug smuggler. Despite that, understanding the reasons for a decision doesn't mean justifying it, & I don't.
All the same, I think writer/director Joshua Marston should be congratulated on a movie well done, that gives a human face to the "mules" that help drug lords to smuggle drugs. We come to realize that sometimes the mules are the victims of extraordinarily bad decisions that they cannot correct in time due to threats to their families, & fear. Catalina Sandino Moreno as María conveys very believable what a person is likely to feel, in such a difficult situation.
On the whole, I reallly liked this movie, even though at times it was difficult to watch due to the emotional agony some of the characters transmited. "María full of grace" won't make you smile, but it will make you think. That is sometimes enough, isn't it ?.
Belen Alcat
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