IMDb plot summary: A pregnant Colombian teenager becomes a drug mule to make some desperately-needed money for her family.
Directed by Joshua Marston. Starring Catalina Sandino Moreno, Guilied Lopez, and Orlando Tobon.
Maria Full of Grace is a story about a 17 year old girl from Colombia who finds herself unexpectedly pregnant and is shortly thereafter fired from her job. She ultimately decides to take on work as a drug mule to help support herself and her family. This is certainly a harrowing story, and the image of her swallowing these large packages that could burst inside her at any moment, killing her, is going to stick with me for a long time. The film treads an interesting line between hopelessness and hopefulness, but it doesn't feel it any point like the film is milking it for us to feel bad for these characters. We just see things going badly for them. The slightly distanced viewpoint actually allows me to feel even more connected to these characters because I don't feel like they are being used to send a message or an idea. While there's obviously not a pure happily ever after for the situation, the story ends with some optimism about the characters, and I appreciated that. Our lead actress is really stupendous -- I believe she earned an Academy Award nomination for this, and that is well deserved. A worthwhile movie to see.
How it entered my Flickchart:
Maria Full of Grace > Wrong Turn
Maria Full of Grace < The Heart is a Lonely Hunter
Maria Full of Grace > Begin Again
Maria Full of Grace < We're No Angels (1955)
Maria Full of Grace > The Edge of Heaven
Maria Full of Grace > The Absent-Minded Professor
Maria Full of Grace > Full Metal Jacket
Maria Full of Grace > Ice Age
Maria Full of Grace > Cargo
Maria Full of Grace < The Mummy (1932)
Maria Full of Grace > Ghost World
Final spot: #1194 out of 3805, or 69%. That seems a little low, but TCDNL.
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