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Maria Full of Grace 2004 |
Review by Jonathan Cornwell |
Directed by Joshua Marston
R, 101 min. (drug content, language) |
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Starring: Catalina Sandino Moreno, Yenny P. Vega, Guilied Lopez, Patricia Rae, Orlando Tobon, John Á. Toro, W. Guerrero
Producer: Paul S. Mezey
Screenplay: Joshua Marston
Cinematography: Jim Denault
Distributor: Fine Line Features
Released: 7.16.04 (Limited)
(In Spanish with subtitles) |
Rating:
  (out of ) |
Maria Full of Grace has moments of gripping tension that are a hypochondriac's worst nightmare, except for the fact
that the peril communicated on screen is very real. The impressive film debut of director/writer Joshua Marston deals with
the gritty ordinariness of the drug world and its consequences on the impoverished who are used to propagate
a seller's market. The film is deceptively straightforward and simplistic; in reality the meticulous study of three teenage
girls who sell their bodies as mules (hiding drugs in their digestive tract) for cocaine distribution from Columbia to the
United States is a powerful examination of the search for a better life. Marston has captured the rarest form of authenticity
in his themes and portrayal of life that exists on the peripheral of the affluent's field of vision.
Maria (Catalina Sandino Moreno), a 17-year old Columbian girl, ponders the future as her pregnancy has further complicated
her plight. She has recently quit her grueling job at a rose processing plant, and her apathetic boyfriend, Juan (Wilson Guerrero),
offers no palpable solutions. Because her familial obligations are considerable, she inquires about a job that pays huge
dividends in return for illegally carrying drugs into the U.S. The Columbian druglord that hires her glosses over the details,
but the risks are painfully apparent. She is forced to swallow large pellets of cocaine covered by elastic material, usually
in excess of sixty of them; they must be extracted in full once safely in the U.S. or the money is not guaranteed. And, of
course, there's the little problem of a pellet that is ruptured, which means almost certain death. She is not alone; two
other girls, childhood friend Blanca (Yenny Paola Vega) and Lucy (Guilied Lopez), who is a veteran of the system, accompany
her to New York. But the successful completion of the journey is anything but easy.
Marston heightens tension by infusing adequate character development to Maria and her companions, and the film's
sweat-inducing second act is riveting. It involves the excruciating flight from Columbia to New York, where the girls take
turns visiting the tiny restroom, trying to avoid vomiting or expelling any of the pellets before they arrive at their
final destination. When Lucy is visibly ill, the viewer thinks the worst and is thrust into the situation with her, contemplating
the unthinkable. Then there's the problem of escaping the trained customs officials, who are on the lookout for such mules
entering the country. Maria is detained and all seems lost, except for the fact that they cannot X-ray a pregnant woman.
Finally, the girls must endure the grueling process of passing the pellets in a shady hotel room, where drug thugs look on
with little compassion for the women - they only care about the merchandise.
Maria Full of Grace is also about the economic conditions that force such extreme measures for three young women,
which enlist in the inhumane process for different reasons. Although all three need the money to better their lives,
Lucy is more interested in reconnecting with her older sister, Carla (Patricia Rae), who left Columbia years ago to find
a better life - Carla will become important in Maria and Blanca's life when things go wrong. Maria sees Blanca as a
spoiled nuisance, whose involvement wasn't entirely based on desperation. Maria sees the opportunity to send money to
her family and to evaluate a life in a country where hard work can lead to financial freedom. Marston convincingly communicates
the few choices that most people living in a country such as Columbia have; drugs are one of the only ways to avoid
indefinite poverty.
What elevates Marston's picture is its unflinching desire to portray the unglamorous reality of the drug underworld. Here
there are no guns or violent showdowns; the danger always seems just out of reach, but is ominously present nonetheless.
The film is about people and their difficult lives, a character study that defines the genre. To bolster the picture's
aims, the performances are top notch. Newcomer Catalina Sandino Moreno, discovered by Marston, has a depth and
earnestness that puts many highly publicized actresses in her demographic to shame. Although she has obvious talent,
Moreno doesn't flaunt or force a performance; it emanates naturally out of her simple character. And Guilied Lopez gives
a harrowing effort as Lucy, a girl who pushes her luck one too many times.
Maria Full of Grace offers insight into the world of real life tragedies, but does so in an unmanipulative manner,
presenting its characters and situations as they might arise in daily activity. As Maria and Blanca wander the New York
streets in search of hope, there is an eerie verisimilitude that evokes thoughts about the impoverished within America's
own borders. Such stories are possible without leaving the country, and it seems Marston has incorporated a thinly-veiled
reference to the irony of such conditions in the world's wealthiest nation. Mostly, however, Marston has crafted a film
with such honesty and deeply felt conviction that it becomes almost impossible to ignore. It's a film that's hard to
forget.
© 2004 Jonathan Cornwell
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 | Masterpiece - Film perfection |
| Excellent - A Must See |
| Good - Highly Recommended |
| Fair - Worth seeing |
| Average - Viewable, but not recommended |
| Below average - View at own risk |
| Poor - Avoid at all costs |
| Very poor - An embarassment to the film industry |
| Zero | Awful - One of the worst films ever made |
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