Maria pleine de grâce

It's COCAINE!

Small film about a big business.

Poverty, desperation and bravery spiral into a mess and culminate in pregnant 17-year-old Maria sitting in a room, trying to swallow 60 plastic capsules full of narcotics to smuggle for money. When she later on needs to swallow two more, it is a scene so painful that it is almost unbearable to watch. Maria: Full of Grace (2004) is a clear-eyed and relevant portrayal of a young girl in Columbia being exploited by the drug industry - in spite of its dark material, it projects a lot of heart and spirit.

They say that reality is often more frightening than fiction - and this is true for this film; it is so realistic and down-to-earth that it becomes harrowing in almost every scene. Catalina Sandino Moreno is fantastic as the dignified, brave Maria whose high-spirited nature propels the otherwise dark film. She is a girl who speaks little, but says so much. She knows what she needs to do, and she does it like she means business.

The above is also true for Joshua Marston's Maria: Full of Grace (2004) - it does not preach about morals; there is no melodrama, politics, sugar-coating romances or effects, but an understated yet brutal depiction of a young girl's journey in learning to cope and be responsible. Extremely well-crafted and important film that does not claim to be important, and that is endlessly refreshing.

8/10

It probably sounds depressing -- three girls from a village in Colombia find themselves broke, are hired as mules to smuggle drugs into New York by swallowing little condoms full, get mixed up with unfeeling and possibly murderous receivers in America, and find themselves almost broke again, or worse.

But this is almost a documentary of what these young girls go through. You come away knowing the DETAILS of how this is all done. Of course we've heard of smuggling drugs in by swallowed condoms. It's in a famous early episode of "Law and Order." And breaking news has it that now dogs are being used -- the reporter always specifies that they are "puppies." But it's informative to see how the process actually works. The three girls we follow from Colombia to New York are not among the wretched poor. Maria, Blanca, and Luci are rather working class but their incomes are too low for them to manage a normal existence and swallowing some dope seems like an easy way to add enough to their incomes to keep their heads above water. The challenges facing them don't include starvation but less dramatic problems like having your electricity shut off.

I'll just mention one detail. I'd always thought that the organizer of the plan would dump a few teaspoons of coke into a condom, tie it off, snip off the excess, and -- voila! A container the size of a grape. But no. These guys are ergonomically sophisticated. There is a manual device that crimps off each stuffed and swollen condom at a length of about 2 inches. They're BIG bundles. The girls have to practice by eating large grapes. And the bundles are coated with oil so that they can be swallowed without activating the gag reflex. It's a pretty disgusting and humiliating experience, what with going through a customs office that knows very well you're carrying, and having to expel them while anxious dealers wait around for you. And of course, if one of the bundles suffers an untimely pop, well what happens to you is what happens to the puppies who are now being used.

But the movie isn't just educational in a narrow sense. Maria, a beautiful girl, is only 17 and pregnant. She's compliant but intelligent, and she retains her dignity. Luci gets sick and suffers the puppy treatment, leaving a bathtub of blood. Blanca, homely and plump and rather dumb, departs for Bogota. And Maria is left alone, friendless, and homeless in Queens. Now THAT is something that shouldn't happen to a dog. The scene is which she and Blanca part at Newark Airport is wordless and painful to watch.

The director handles all of this with simple restraint, wisely, because the narrative itself is strong enough to carry the movie. Maria may be strong but she's impulsive too -- that pregnancy, that decision to be a "mula". He doesn't preach at all. And there are no dazzling directorial displays. The director is a guy in charge of his talent. Maria may be full of grace but she is also full of a lot of other things -- a baby, heroin, resentment. And there is an almost unnoticeable commercial billboard behind her as she leaves Blanca, "It's What's Inside That Counts."

As Maria, Catalina Moreno seems both innocent and strong, poised as it were between the unfortunate child she's left behind and the hardened whore she is likely to become. She rarely loses composure. At first I thought it was because she simply was not a seasoned actress, but there is a scene in which she watches the ultrasound image of her fetus and she giggles a little and her face lights up with expectant happiness. It's the only time she grins in the entire movie and it makes her seem to glow joyously. And unthinkingly too. That baby is going to cost a fortune and probably won't go to Philips Andover.

It's a heartbreaking movie, really, but strangely not depressing. Some people are rotten, others are kindly, and most are just trying to get along. If it's depressing, well, so is life at the mall.

Well, I think this is a great movie. It brilliantly depicts the real situation of a Colombian girl. For me, a Colombian, what is really touching is her condition through the movie. María has this problem with her work and her boss, these other two with her boyfriend, this other one with her sister, this other one with her mother, this other one with her money, the other one with her wishes to become stable, this other one with her girlfriend, and then she is about to have a thousand more with this people of the drug traffic business and with the traffic itself! To have a thousand problems at the same time is, sadly, not an exception, but the usual situation of the average Colombian! I mean, we strongly tend to have disorganized lives, with three, four, five concerns at a time, struggling and wandering through life with them. We are not organized, as people of the developed countries are accustomed to be. We always have problems. I'd say we love to have them. And we love to dig on other people's problems. It gives us a false sense of importance, as of being the stars of our own story.

Other typical Colombian attitudes are very well presented. One of them is impudence. For example, look at María's sister. She didn't do more than to ask for things! And, even further, she COMPLAINS!! Typical. Or Blanca's attitude. She pretends and pretends that she is very angry with Marìa, telling her offensive things, but she follows her everywhere! I can't tell you how typical this coward, illogical and annoying attitude is. Other one is to lie and to lie until everything falls by its own weight. Of course, all of these are generalizations. There are a lot of Colombian people who is not like that. But I am talking about what Colombian attitudes are depicted at the movie, and these really are. There are other good too, like the force to fight for what you want and to dream of progress, the cooperation and heart, the love for family, the piety, etc.

The movie is refreshing and free of gags and clichés. Well, actually it is very disturbing sometimes. But it is real. Like movies like "Ladri di biciclette", "Before Sunset" or "Lost in Translation" one can surely affirm that nothing of what happens of this movie could not have happened in real life. And there is nothing more moving than real life.

The story is great. The acting of Catalina is great. Actually, she doesn't look like acting. It's too real. Flaws? Well, the music is awful. Bogotá is not a land of salsa (besides, the only he ugliest parts of the city are shown). And the acting of particularly two other actors is bad, too. There are moments where the bad guys appear very much more compassionate than what they are in real life? But let's say that this is not a flaw.

With this movie, as with he magnificent Cidade de Deus, a quote, I think that from Tolstoi, keeps on being present and relevant: "If you want to be universal, write about your little village".

9/10

I really liked this movie a lot. It's refreshing to come across a compelling human drama that is told in such an incredibly honest and unexaggerated fashion that it ends up feeling wonderfully real and completely believable. The rather straightforward story only makes the movie feel more convincing - not at all contrived.

Maria Alvarez, played by previous unknown Catalina Sandino Moreno, is a seventeen year old who falls into the sticky-sweet trap of seeking a quick escape from the drudgery and hopelessness of her mundane existence. She turns to drugs. Not using them, though - smuggling them. Working as a drug mule offers her the chance at easy money. But, like most young people, she dives into it headlong - without fully realizing the risks and possible consequences. In fact, this movie really is all about young people stumbling over their own poor judgements (yes, it can be painful to watch at times).

Given all the hype that surrounded this movie when it was released, I found it to be not quite as harrowing as I had expected. Perhaps I'm just too jaded and desensitized. In truth, there were moments where I felt genuinely afraid for Maria. Mostly, though, there was just a real sense of the despair and desperation that fills the lives of these young Colombians. Perhaps this movie will, after all, not be the centerpiece of the Colombia Tourism Board's upcoming marketing and public relations campaign.

In the spirit of keeping it genuine (aka believable), all the acting in this movie is right on the mark - all the actors deliver. Of course, Catalina Sandino Moreno (Maria) is so graced with natural beauty and she projects such a gentle and humble manner that one can't really help but feel empathy for her character. In fact, if there is anything to find fault with in the casting of her as Maria, it's that you're left wondering why her boyfriend would be such a God-damned idiot as to pass her up. If he had even an ant's worth of common sense, he would be madly in love with her. Not? So, that's the one element that doesn't gel so well.

The moody and melancholic music throughout this film - with plenty of beautiful acoustic guitar playing - supports the emotional content of the movie perfectly. Thankfully, it doesn't overtly bang you on the head with "feel sad here", and "feel scared here", and "feel relieved here". It sinks back a bit to find its harmony with the other elements. Nice.

The cinematography is beautiful in its simplicity and its understated manner. The word "modest" - in its best sense - serves well in describing this movie. Overall, it's just not as heavily stylized as other the-perils-of-getting-involved-with-drugs type movies - such as "Requiem For a Dream", "Traffic", "Blow", and "City of God", to name but a few - and with little of the annoying moralizing that tends to poison movies of this "genre".

In conclusion, most of us have already learned in life that one shouldn't be an ass. What this movie teaches us is that it's also not a good idea to be a mule.

It upsets me when I see a well-crafted film like this getting mediocre ratings (even if it is a "weighted average" on IMDb). As I write this most people who have voted have given Maria Full of Grace a "7" or higher. I was so engrossed by Maria's story and the acting that went into it that, at times, I felt as if I was watching a documentary. (I also had that feeling watching "City of God"). The Audience Award at Sundance was obviously well deserved. Catalina Sandino Moreno (Maria) gives the type of performance that should make a lot of directors take note. And the story itself makes you to pause to consider the reasons why some people are involved in the drug trade. See this film!