Maria Full of Grace
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Maria Full of Grace | |
|---|---|
 Maria Full of Grace film poster |
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| Directed by | Joshua Marston |
| Produced by | Paul S. Mezey |
| Written by | Joshua Marston |
| Starring | Catalina Sandino Moreno, John Álex Toro |
| Music by | Leonardo Heiblum Jacobo Lieberman |
| Cinematography | Jim Denault |
| Editing by | Anne McCabe Lee Percy |
| Distributed by | Fine Line Features |
| Release date(s) | January 18, 2004 |
| Running time | 101 min. |
| Country | Colombia United States |
| Language | Spanish |
| Allmovie profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Maria Full of Grace (2004, Spanish title: María llena eres de gracia, lit. "Maria, full you are of grace") is a joint Colombian-American film, written and directed by Joshua Marston, who won the Independent Spirit Award for Best First Screenplay. The title is a reference to the Hail Mary and a reference to what Maria carries in her into the United States.
Lead actress Catalina Sandino Moreno was named Best Actress at the Berlin Film Festival and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress in the 77th Academy Awards. She is one of three Hispanic actresses to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress, together with Mexican actress Salma Hayek for Frida (2002) and Spanish actress Penelope Cruz for Volver (2006).
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[edit] Plot
- Tagline: Based on 1,000 true stories.
María Álvarez, a 17-year-old Colombian girl (played by Catalina Sandino Moreno), works in sweat shop-like conditions at a flower plantation to help support her family. However, after finding herself pregnant by her boyfriend, whom she does not love, being forced to bring in the money for her jobless sister (a single mother), and being unjustly treated by her boss, she quits and decides to find another job, despite her family's disapproval. On her way to Bogotá to find a new job, she gets offered a position as a mule — one who smuggles drugs by swallowing drug-filled pellets. Desperate, she accepts the risky offer and swallows 62 wrapped pellets of cocaine and flies to New York City. After a close call at the US Customs (she was about to be X-rayed, until customs found out she was pregnant), she is set free and sent to a hotel where she is to remove the pellets from her body. The traffickers arrive to take the drugs. To retrieve the pellets from Lucy, a fellow mule who had died when one of the pellets ruptured inside her, the traffickers had cut open her stomach, then disposed of her body. After seeing this ruthless world firsthand, Maria decides to escape the drug-trafficking cartel.
Her story becomes one of determination and survival like that of many other immigrants in the United States, although she knows nothing about the country and had originally planned to go back to Colombia.The economic hardships of Colombia and the working environment for illegals in the US are both accurately represented. Eventually realizing that her choices affect other people, she emerges with the grace that will carry her forward into a new life. In the end Maria lives her life in the United States.
[edit] Analysis
Maria’s poor living conditions and desperate need for money lead to her decision to become a mule. These circumstances are a norm of rural life in Colombia, which creates the opportunity for the exploitation and containment of women, catalyzed by factors such as Structural Adjustment Programs (SAPs). For example, the conditions of Maria’s job at the flower plantation are far below standard, with little protection and rights given to the workers. These situations are made possible because of the lack of laws and organizations protecting women workers in Third World countries. The conditions Maria is forced into when she arrives in the U.S. are horrifying: a very sick woman, who is also working as a mule, dies because she is prohibited from seeing a doctor until she excretes the drug pellets; Maria and her friend, Blanca, escape when they realize what has happened to the deceased woman, yet they have no one to run to because of the insufficiency of protection for migrant women; Maria, and the other women, are verbally abused. The other traffickers, men who conflict this treatment upon the women, know the circumstances under which the mules are in the U.S., and use that knowledge to exploit them, by containing them in a small room for days until they excrete all the drug pellets and by having a complete disregard for their well-being. Maria decides to stay in the U.S., which seems like the smart choice, given her unhappiness and living conditions in Colombia. However, she is still leaving much behind in Colombia: her family, the father of her child, and ultimately her home. She stays in the U.S. to create a better life for herself, and perhaps her child. She seems to have a disregard for her child (swallowing drug pellets and risking her life and imprisonment) in the beginning of the film, but after her experience as a mule, she has matured and become much stronger, and has taken charge of her future for the first time in her life.
[edit] Cast
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| Catalina Sandino Moreno | María Álvarez |
| Virginia Ariza | Juana |
| Krystal Simmons | Blanca |
| Rodrigo Sánchez Borhorquez | Supervisor |
| Charles Albert Patiño | Felipe |
| Wilson Guerrero | Juan |
| Johanna Andrea Mora | Diana Álvarez |
| Fabricio Suarez, Mateo Suarez | Pacho |
| Evangelina Morales | Rosita |
| Juana Guarderas | Female Pharmacist |
| John Álex Toro | Franklin (as John Alex Toro) |
| Jaime Osorio Gómez (also co-producer) | Javier (as Jaime Osorio Gomez) |
| Guilied Lopez | Lucy Díaz |
| Victor Macias | Pellet Maker |
