Maria Full of Grace
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Movie Reviews of Maria Full of Grace
Movie Review: Living in an Imperfect World....
Summary: 5 Stars
This movie is pretty damn excellent... it's one of those movies that totally sucks you in. The main character, Maria, is sort of a flawed hero; that is to say, she makes some bad decisions. She isn't perfect. But then, she's living in a world full of bad options. She's pregnant and her boyfriend is kind of a loser who freely admits that he doesn't love her. She's living in a country full of crime and corruption but short on actual jobs. So, what's a girl to do? She needs money and there's one easy way to make money in Colombia....
In a way, this movie reminded me of "Dirty, Pretty Things" because both movies are about people who are forced to do criminal things in order to survive. Both movies are serious without being overwhelmingly bleak; while the circumstances of life may be pretty grim, the central characters manage to hold onto their integrity and - occasionally - a sense of hope. But whereas "Dirty, Pretty Things" wraps things up a bit too neatly in the end, "Maria, Full of Grace" manages to maintain a sense of reality throughout.
Bottom line, this is a great movie. Superb acting, suspenseful, occasionally tragic, occasionally hopeful.
Damn good stuff.
Movie Review: Heartfelt and disturbing
Summary: 5 Stars
This movie entrances you to Maria's plight, from unbearable working conditions, from poverty, from unwanted pregnancy, to a dangerous adventure with the drug underworld, and later to her 'brave new world' in America. It mesmerizes the viewer in a manner that does not shock but rather beckons us to empathize and discuss. Its a masterpiece of a movie that plays with our emotions using a subject that is neither glamorous nor family-oriented.
Its amazing that this movie did not become a household event since it deals with the viciousness, the callousness of drugs in an unpatronizing manner, yet its message is powerful. It forces us to rethink our priorities, and makes us appreciate what we have here in America much more. If only the same 'kids in America' can appreciate such opportunities instead of falling prey to the same predatory nature of drugs. This movie is a must for parents who need to explain to their budding teenagers the dangers of drugs and fast money. A must see. Great acting and directing! You almost forget that you are actually watching a foreign film, reading the subtitles because you are totally engross with the movie. Very very good.
Movie Review: Brutally Realistic, But Not Without Hope
Summary: 5 Stars
This story of a young Columbian woman who agrees to become a mule to transport heroin into the U.S. is realistic, very linear and very affecting. Maria is a poor, independent-minded woman who has quit her job in the sweat-house flower growing industry and has learned she's pregnant. She agrees to become a mule, swallowing large capsules of compressed heroin and attempting to get past U.S. inspectors after a flight to New York. She's picked up by paid thugs who take her to a cheap safe house to wait until the capsules pass through her body. The whole process is shown realistically. The dangers are real, from capture by the authorities to death if one of the capsules ruptures inside the body. This happens to one of the women on the same flight with her, and the movie plays out the consequences to Maria. As demeaning and brutal as the process is shown to be, the movie ends on some small notes of hope.
The acting is first rate. The actress who plays Maria had never acted before and does an outstanding job. The character she plays can be stubborn, not always honest, brave when she needs to be. This is an excellent movie well worth seeing.
Movie Review: The "bonus feature" with Joshua Marston's audio commentary is enlightening!
Summary: 5 Stars
"Maria Full of Grace" on DVD has one advantage over seeing it on the big screen - the "bonus feature" with Joshua Marston's audio commentary.
I thought that "Maria Full of Grace" was a Colombian movie. Instead, it's an American independent film. The original script was written by Joshua Marston, who also directed the film. HBO video financed the film.
The "bonus feature" of this DVD with Marston's audio commentary is an important insight into the making of "Maria." If you're a student of film-making, this is a must see. The entire film is played with Marston giving a running commentary on what you're seeing. He talks about the how the idea of the film originated, the financing of the film, the use of Spanish instead of English, the use of Ecuador as a location for Colombia, the politics of the drug war, the selection of the actors, the dialogue, the editing, etc.
I watched the feature then I watched the "bonus feature" in one sitting. It was a three-hour viewing session for me because the "bonus feature" was so interesting that I couldn't turn it off.
Movie Review: "If you don't do this well, we'll stop right now..."
Summary: 5 Stars
Stopping isn't an option, really.
Maria has a problem: she finds it difficult to conform to stupid conventions. But she ends up making a terribly wrong choice in her desperation to get out of the rut she is in. She's given the feeling that it's about easy money. Once she has made that wrong choice, she finds herself in situations which she wasn't warned about.
Having gone through the reviews, I find come common complaints in the negative ones: that it's like a documentary, that critics are partial to foreign films, that there's no story.
The fact is that this is a simple and moving tale, and it's told well, without fireworks. Apart from Catalina Moreno's wonderful performance, I liked her interview in which she says, "It's not about the drugs, it's about the girl". Equally important, the core of the story can be very close to you, if you look around.
The one problem is that some of the characters are a bit cheesy, like the gangsters in New York. For me, that didn't really dent the gracefulness of the movie much.