Review: Maria Full of Grace (*** 1/2)

MARIA FULL OF GRACE
A film review by Steve Rhodes

Copyright 2004 Steve Rhodes

RATING (0 TO ****): *** 1/2


In MARIA FULL OF GRACE (MARIA, LLENA ERES DE GRACIA), sweet Maria is indeed
full of grace, but that's not all. She is also -- quite literally -- full
of drugs, but she's no user. She's a mule, carrying drugs from her home in
Columbia to the streets of New York. In a sad, lonely and dangerous job,
she has been hired to transport cocaine, lots of cocaine, in her belly. It
is an extremely dangerous assignment for many reasons: She could get caught
and thrown in prison. She and/or her family could be killed by the drug
lords if they think that she has crossed them in any way. And, she could
easily die en route if one of the packages in her stomach breaks.



When we first meet Maria, played in a captivating and compelling performance
by newcomer Catalina Sandino Moreno, she is working a hard job in a flower
factory. Her heartless boss won't give her the frequent bathroom breaks
that she needs. Like her sister, she is soon to become an unmarried,
teenage mother, but Maria isn't telling anyone of her difficulty. Her
mother and her sister expect Maria to be the family's sole breadwinner so
they are angry with her when she quits her job on the assembly line,
trimming flowers.



Maria's boyfriend, who won't tell her that he loves her, says he's willing
to marry her, but it is not a serious offer, so, when a chance to make big
money in drugs comes her way, she takes it. Her training consists of
learning to swallow very large grapes whole. Her real assignment, however,
proves much more challenging. She has to swallow sixty to seventy large
capsules, about one-and-a-half inches long and three-quarters of an inch
wide. When she loses a few in flight, she has to wash them off, coat them
with toothpaste and gulp them back down. She is surprised to recognize
several of her fellow mules on board. Multiple young women are sent so
that, if one is caught, the others will get through. The story's harrowing
last act involves the purgatory she finds herself in after she lands in New
York.



In a bit of touching irony, the last scene contains a distant billboard
slogan of "It's What's Inside That Counts." And, for drug mules, it's also
what can kill them.



MARIA FULL OF GRACE runs 1:41. The film is in English and in Spanish with
English subtitles. It is rated R for "drug content and language" and would
be acceptable for teenagers.



The film opens nationwide in the United States on Friday, July 30, 2004. In
the Silicon Valley, it will be showing at the Camera Cinemas.



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