I cannot recommend this film enough.
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The "Ave Maria" goes something like this:
Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee,
Blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners,
now and at the hour of our death.
Amen.
Not only does the title of the recent independent film, "Maria Full of Grace" resemble the first line of the prayer above, it somehow struck me that its story is somewhat--whether intentional or not--loosely tied to the verses in the prayer. However, this is certainly not a direct implication on my part that this film contains openly religious overtones. On the contrary, despite its title, "Maria Full of Grace" is strictly non-religious and there is no mention of religion or whether it plays any significant part at all in its characters´ lives and motivations. This is just a coincidence that I can´t help but observe.
Splendidly directed and tightly written by gifted first-time filmmaker Joshua Marston, HBO Film´s "Maria Full of Grace" is the antithesis of movies that inadvertently glorify the illicit and often dangerous world of drug trafficking. Even though Marston does not hail from anywhere near South America, specifically the country of Colombia where this film is based, this California-raised NYU-graduate is able to stunningly capture the appalling essence of how rural poverty and the burning ambition to improve the lives of one´s family are so closely tied to the burgeoning drug trade in Colombia. Fortunately for Marston, he rightfully stays apolitical with his debut effort, staying out of making any large political statements but instead focuses on the human side of the drug war.
At present, Colombia´s largest commodity exports include petroleum, coal and fresh cut flowers. Yes, those beautiful fresh-looking roses that you see every day at the local florist or grocery store were probably processed from a farm in either Colombia or Ecuador, two countries that possess the ideal climate and condition for rose cultivation. And this is where our story begins.
Seventeen-year old Maria Alverez (Catalina Sandino Moreno) rises at the crack of dawn and toils away at the local rose processing plant, removing the thorns from the countless stalks of roses that pass through her station. The working conditions are not most ideal but the mostly monotonous work provides a living wage for the rural community that the plant resides in. Maria´s already miniscule wages go entirely towards helping her family, which consists of her grandmother, her mother and her sister Diana (Johanna Andrea Mora), who is a single mother of an infant. It is interesting to note that throughout the film, no male members of her family are introduced or alluded to. A possible reason for this unusual absence is that a male member of the family might complicate matters when Maria takes her harrowing journey into the drug underworld.
From the onset, one gets a sense that Maria is destined for much bigger and better things, as she´s not only intelligent and self-sufficient, she also exhibits a kind of fearlessness that will be her salvation later on. Even Maria´s well-meaning but ultimately aimless boyfriend Juan (Wilson Guerrero) and her best friend, Blanca (Yenny Paola Vega), can´t seem to be able to keep up with her. When her boss at the factory gets on her case about her feeling sick while on the clock, Maria impulsively quits. After learning that she is pregnant with Juan´s child, Maria is faced with an uncertain future that just seems bleaker by the minute.
Eventually, Maria hooks up with Franklin (John Alex Toro), a motorcycle-riding sweet talker who offers her a way to make more money than she could ever dream about. Of course, the initial lure of becoming a drug mule or courier is not immediately appealing because of one simple fact: the drug is contained in grape-sized packets that are swallowed by the mule and carried in his or her stomach. Not only is this revolting method of drug smuggling common among young Colombian women, it is also highly deadly because any accidental leakage in any of the packets will mean a painful and certain death due to an overdose.
Despite the risk to herself and also the baby that she is carrying, Maria agrees to become a drug mule, smuggling cocaine into the United States through New York City. The scene where Maria is escorted to the backroom of a store front where she eventually comes face to face with her destiny, the dozens of small drug pellets that are packaged and ready for consumption, is the sizzling inflection point of the film where every twist and turn of the plot from then on becomes a life or death decision for our heroine.
More than anything, "Maria Full of Grace" is a relentless and eye-popping examination of the profound and damaging effects that the Colombian drug cartels have on the youth of this poor South American country. With widespread poverty, especially in the rural areas of Colombia, it is easy for the cartels to lure wide-eyed impressionable young girls to become human drug mules with the promise of a big payoff. To become a mule, one would also have to be risk-adverse because the experienced U.S. customs officers at the airports can detect even the faintest hint of fear in any travelers that pass through the border checkpoints. Like many of the recruited mules, Maria is first motivated by the financial gains that would go a long way in helping her family. However, it is also undeniable that Maria is ambitious and her mundane life in a rural town will never be able to satiate her desire to look for a way out. Therefore, this job is to be her one big chance to begin a new life. However, as in any real life situations, Murphy´s Law rules and nothing comes off as planned. Maria eventually finds herself alone in this city of millions, relying solely on her acute survival instincts.
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[release]13984[/release]