Maria Full of Grace Review
by Laura Clifford (laura AT reelingreviews DOT com)July 23rd, 2004
MARIA FULL OF GRACE
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In a small Columbian town, Maria (Berlin Film Festival Best Actress winner Catalina Sandino Moreno) is feeling put upon by an uncaring boss at a rose processing plant and the mother and sister who depend on her paycheck. In a bid for freedom, Maria decides to go for the quick money tied to muling heroin to the U.S. Her secret pregnancy gives Maria the courage to get through the horrific experience and endows her "Maria Full of Grace."
Writer/director Joshua Marston makes an impressive debut with his brutal tale of one woman's walking through fire to attain a new life. The film socks a one two punch with the breakthrough performance of lead actress Sandino Moreno, who invests Maria with bold spirit and righteousness, and its harrowing and tense midsection which succeeds on the strength of its actresses and Marston's detailed accounting of drug muling.
Maria does not have a problem standing up for herself. When her supervisor is more concerned about her productivity than her morning sickness, she quits her job in her hometown's only industry. When she tells her boyfriend Juan that she is pregnant, she rejects his offer of marriage as both impractical and undesirable. She remains cool with Bogota drug lord Javier, who acts almost soothingly through her initiation process before informing her that failure to deliver will bring harm to her family. During her first plane trip, Maria is unsettled from both the experience of flight and the extreme discomfort caused by the sixty pellets of heroin in her stomach (the mechanics of ingesting and re-ingesting and then eliminating the drugs is gut-churning). She is also surprised to see the flight peppered with at least two other carriers known to her. Lucy (Guilied Lopez) is the experienced mule who taught Maria how to prepare for her interview with Javier by practicing swallowing large grapes whole and Blanca (Yenny Paola Vega) is her friend from the rose plantation who has now become an unwelcome follower. Lucy looks deathly ill and Blanca is doing everything Lucy warned Maria against.
The baby Maria is carrying proves to be her salvation. Although she is stopped by customs officers, she cannot be x-rayed (it is unexplained how the far less convincing Blanca passes through). The U.S. end of the operation turns out to be far more brutal, causing Maria to flee and find her own way in the streets of New York, where she is introduced to Columbian immigrant culture. The film ends in an expected but nonetheless satisfying way.
Catalina Sandino Moreno creates a strong young woman whose external fearlessness is cut with just the right amount of vulnerability to keep her real. Hers is a confident performance which shows a maturity unusual in a debut. Three other actresses all deserve mention, however, for their representations of the world Maria moves through. Yenny Paola Vega is perfect as Blanca, an unremarkable girl who shines in Maria's reflected light, then becomes a sullen burden when following Maria brings trouble. Guilied Lopez gives Lucy a veneer of city girl sophistication before stripping it away to the innocent beneath. Patricia Rae ("Swimfan") portrays Lucy's older sister as warily maternal to the two troubled girls, a foundation of familiarity amidst scary chaos.
Joshua Marston's writing and direction pulls the viewer into the three distinctly different lifestyles Maria experiences. We feel the downtrodden acceptance and boredom of those born into poverty and the hope and hardships of a new life in the United States. Marston's centerpiece, though, is one of the most gripping explorations of the drug trade ever put to screen. "Maria Full of Grace" is unforgettable.
B+
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