Mikelikesnotlikes MARIA FULL OF GRACE was a strangely chosen title as Maria is not portrayed as anyone particularly special. No spectacular epiphany or transcendence takes place either, which only adds to the realism. This is not a negative comment as it is a well made film.Caught in grinding poverty, treated poorly by her boss, pressured to give up the money she earns to her sister and mother for daily expenses, and finally undone by her boyfriend's lack of affection, Maria makes a rash decision.Seduced by the money offered, Maria agrees to fly to America as a drug mule. It is very interesting to watch the whole process which is filmed almost in a documentary style. I was fascinated by the traffickers business-like manipulation and training of the girls. They are taught how to swallow large grapes as practice in the days leading up to trip. When the time comes to ingest the drugs Maria is given a gentle stomach massage halfway through to adjust the drug pellets into place so they can fit more in.The whole story is told very calmly and quietly, focusing solely on Maria as she allows herself to be used. The tension is never artificially heighten with clever camera angles or a pounding score. Even when she is under suspicion of carrying drugs, and must sign permission for the customs agents to x-ray her, we get the impression Maria will unemotionally accept whatever happens.This film should be not be watched just for the entertainment value. It also provides a clear and troubling perspective of the choices some of us must make to survive.I did find Catalina's extraordinary beauty, even with minimal make- up, quite distracting, and it has made me look up other films she has made.

maria0298 "Maria Full of Grace", is a Latin American movie directed by Joshua Marston. It tells the story of a 17-year-old Colombian girl who finds herself jobless and is forced to search for a way to keep her family afloat. A film that focuses on a different perspective of life, "Maria Full of Grace" shows how a member of several minority groups (a teenager, a woman, and a Latin American) deals with her circumstances, and how she manages to survive in an often-cruel world.Maria is a pregnant teenage girl who quits her job in a rose plantation when she is mistreated by her employer. Maria and her mother are the only ones that work in the family, so she is pressured to find a profitable job quickly. She is taken to Bogota by a friend, and along the way he tells her about a job as a drug mule. Initially, Maria is not willing to participate in the business, but as her friend describes the possible compensation, she decides to meet the organizer of the trafficking. She meets the man in charge in a bar in Bogota, and he explains what she will have to do; assuring her that it will be a safe, easy and painless job. He gives her a part of the payment ahead and she agrees to come back. Later, she returns to swallow the small bundles of drugs wrapped in latex gloves, boards the plane and leaves for the US. Through her journey, Maria experiences several frightening setbacks. However, she is helped by the people she meets in New York and understands the opportunities that immigrants have in the city. Ultimately, Maria decides to stay in the United States, in order to ensure a brighter future for her unborn child.The characters' portrayals contribute enormously to the story. This is a character-oriented film: Maria is not just a drug mule, another victim of the drug trafficking business. She is a teenage girl who was a family and a life, and she manages to surmount difficulties in a rather composed manner. She is strong-willed and hot-tempered and like every teenager, she is impulsive and unnervingly brave. Actress Catalina Sandino channels the emotions that curse through Maria using different facial expressions and voice tones. Maria's character is believable: whether hated or loved by viewers, it makes us actually wonder about her motivations. The accompanying cast also represents accurately what their characters feel, how they react to adversity and how they have been affected by past experiences. I think one of the most important elements that help an actor accomplish this is his life being connected in some way to the character's life; and this holds true for this film. The actors in the film are Latinos. While their realities may not be exactly the same as their characters', there is a strong connection to stories such as these. As a Latin American girl, I understand how violence, poverty and desperation are connected to every culture, including mine. I should stop and clarify that I am immensely biased. I am a Latina that worships her region's history, culture and people. However, this film was magnificent for me because it showed me a side of Latin America that can't be ignored. The fear and insecurity are as present and real as the beauty and the love that also abound around me. It is a gritty sort of realism that makes this film so attractive, so shocking. It makes the audience feel responsible, because it exposes the point to which some humans are exploited. Thus, I feel that our culture was portrayed well in the movie; from the rural Colombia and the youths during parties, to overwhelming Bogota. I felt identified with what the characters said and did: it was a real Latin American movie, a true portrait of the people we are. I think that the most accomplished scenes were the ones that captured Maria's life: her fight with her sister, her naïve boyfriend, and her talks with her best friend. The biggest lesson I think this movie taught me is that regardless of nationality, class, ethnicity, religion, and political orientation, every human will inevitably have something in common with another human. In every country, immigration is a controversial issue, whether it is Costa Rica or the United States. We have been taught to instinctively fear immigrants or blame immigration as the source of our problems. What this movie really screams out is "Is it anyone's fault to want a better life?" When I finished watching the movie I thought (and still do) that it portrayed Latin America slightly negatively. However, I now understand that one of the major points was not to undermine Latin America, but to make the audience understand what kind of struggle it must be to leave one's own country because of different circumstances. As I have said before, we can all find ourselves in Maria and the rest of the characters. Therefore, I'd recommend this movie to everyone over the age of 15, regardless of the fact that the movie is rated R. The closer we get to the truth, the more we can do to change that truth if we dislike it. We are used to living trapped in prison of comfort; and I call it prison because it not only traps us from doing something radical or different, but it keeps other people away from us: people that need help. Thus, I applaud the director for making a movie that has woken us up and set us free, one by one. Rating: 4.5/5Maria Thompson is a student in sophomore year at Lincoln School in San Jose, Costa Rica. She likes reading and writing. One of her main hobbies is eating, and her favorite food is asparagus. Maria hopes to be involved in politics in the future. Before that though, Maria hopes to learn how to cook.

mckenna foulger Maria, a girl who grew up too fast. "Maria Full of Grace" is a small budget movie directed by Joshua Marston. It was filmed in Spanish but has been translated to many different languages. After watching this movie we have been informed about a huge problem that has been happening not only in Colombia but in most Latin America countries; the drug trafficking. It has been nominated for various Oscars and even won an Oscar for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role. This movie is about a seventeen year old girl named Maria that lives in a small village in Colombia. She is part of the low class that has an annual salary of $1,700. Maria lives with three generations; sister, sister's daughter, mother and grandmother. When she loses her job she has to take extreme measures to keep providing for her family. With her new job she travels to from her small village to the huge city of Queens in New York. Maria Alvarez, the main character, is played by Catalina Sandino Mora. She is portrayed as a sympathetic 17 year old girl that works in a flower factory. The nice, sympathetic girl is contradicted when she gets herself into all the dangers of being a drug trafficker. Catalina portrays her character in a very professional way. On the other hand, Maria's best friend, Blanca who is played by Yenny Paola Vega, did not do as good of a job. She did not show as many emotions and made the audience feel like her character was a fed up rich girl, when she was actually under the same circumstances as Maria. Guilid Lopez is also another actress who really understood her character, Lucia Díaz. Lucia made the audience feel the emotions that she was feeling and it affected how they felt towards other characters. Overall the characters were very well chosen by the director and really do a great job portraying their characters. This Colombian movie had its ups and downs. First of all the story line was very well thought out. It is said that the director, Joshua Marston, traveled to New York and to Columbia to really get a feel of what it's like in those very distinct places and to write his story line. He studied the event regarding drug trafficking in both countries which involved guerrillas, military forces, and drug traffickers. With this specific storyboard chosen, people can relate and find it interesting. Another good aspect of this movie is the great photography. For example, the bus scene with Luci and Maria. They filmed without a tripod so the camera moves with the movements of the bus. This shows the conflict that these two young women are going through. Another scene with superb photography is the scene when Maria gets back from Bogota. The more the fight increases the closer the camera gets to the actresses faces creating a more intense environment. One aspect of the movie that wasn't that impressing was the plane scene. First of all the way it was filmed was not that impressive. It did not make the audience feel the tension between the characters. From a critic's point of view, they could have included more close-ups of the facial expressions of the girls when they looked glanced back at each other or used a more creative angle when Maria was in the plane bathroom. In this specific movie, the director is trying to portray 2 specific themes. Being a drug mule or drug transporter is probably the biggest theme and is portrayed all throughout the movie. The movie shows how being a drug mule can help and destroy people's lives. First of all this job provides Maria with the money she needs to support her family but it's not an easy job. Maria has to put not only her life, but her unborn daughter's life on the edge. The other theme that strongly influences this movie is growing up. From the beginning of the book until the end, Maria makes her way from childhood to adulthood. In the beginning she is a typical teenager with typical teenage problems but because of her social class she is pressured into adult scenarios. The circumstances that she finds herself in (drugs, illegal actions, burglars) forces her to make adult-like decisions. This movie is definitely for a specific target audience. It is rated R for a reason. The content is this movie is definitely not good for anybody under the age of 14 because it contains subjects like drugs, robberies, sex scenes, etc. This movie is recommended to audiences that like to watch movies about real conflicts happening around the world and not the cliché Hollywood movie. This Colombian movie is an excellent movie overall. Like all movies it has its ups and downs but what makes it different from the rest is that is shows the world a different reality then they are used to and one that is very common in Latin America countries. Rating: 9 out of 10This was written by McKenna Foulger who is a freshman at Lincoln School, Costa Rica. She watched this movie in her film appreciation class and was given the assignment of writing a review from the perspective of a movie critic.

ybraunstein Had to watch this for my women studies class. Why, i don't really know, as it doesn't have much to do with gender issues. Anyway, I can't explain the great reviews. Yes, like most people in the third world she lives below the poverty line. Her life is more boring than a struggle. No wonder she wants to escape. However, it's not really an interesting story line. Yes, drug traffic is dangerous, Lucy dies, but otherwise its pretty mundane. No real character development nothing. while we are on that subject, if you hire no names off the street you aren't going to be able to develop interesting characters. There is a reason movies are supposed to include real actors Nuff said