It's amazing to see the performance of Catalina Sandino Moreno here. She's fully committed and her work here is authentic and completely genuine. No artificiality, something which I wish I could say was most common in Hollywood.

The film is well-acted and well-directed. In fact, I may have given this film a 3 star rating perhaps, if it weren't for the fact the film tries to extol itself as a morality piece, when what it really is is a US propaganda film depicting the US as a place where the streets are lined with gold if you work hard & put your mind to it. As any American knows, jobs are not easy to get, rent & utilities are unaffordable for the middle-class, let alone those working below minimum wage and completely unable to speak the language.The film centers on a young women who gets pregnant from casual sex. Rather than marry the father, because he is poor, she decided to earn money by becoming a cocaine mule. Her redemption is staying in the US to forge a new life for her and her child. The film pretends to extol morality by its very title, whereas its main premise is wholly immoral. It's not moral to have casual sex, get pregnant, refuse to marry the child's father just because he's poor, swallow condoms full of cocaine that can burst and kill you & your unborn child at any moment, deny your child the right to be with its rightful father and grandparents. The film pretends this is all OK, as long as the female character stays in this country so her child could have a better life, which in reality as a child of an illegal parent is rarely true. Is this film a Hollywood fairytale; a propaganda film meant to show the US as this thriving country where everyone can make it, even illegal aliens who have no relatives to help them; or is this film used to encourage illegal migration to this country by promising immigrants the streets are lined with gold? All I know is I'm a citizen and my pockets aren't lined with gold.

"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.

Drugs. Not grace. It's drugs Maria is full of, for she has just swallowed nearly 60 pellets of cocaine that are on their way to New York. But do not be fooled, because it is a choice she was compelled to make in the context of an utter lack of opportunities in her small Colombian village. As a Latin American, I was deeply affected by the crude truths that are exposed in "Maria Full of Grace" in regards to the realities of those who are desperate and poor, especially as the situation presented in the movie is a reflection of what's happening in places in nearly every developing country of the world.Maria is a seventeen year old with nearly all odds stacked against her: a woman, pregnant, and most likely of a limited education, Maria works removing thorns from roses in a working environment of mistreatment and minimum wages. When she resigns from her job because of this, she finds herself at a stalemate, for there is no way in which she can continue providing for her family of five (and soon to be of six). Thus, when she is offered $5000 for a single trip as a drug mule, it is only expectable for her to jump right at the opportunity. The story then follows Maria in her dangerous trip to New York — through ominous security measures and other even more threatening figures involved in the drug trade — in tense scenes that manage to keep the viewer at the edge of their seats during the entire film. I wouldn't doubt that even the strongest nationalist would find himself rooting for Maria in her attempts of successfully taking the drug into the borders of the United States, for her story is portrayed in a way that the viewer can sympathize with Maria and what led her to make her decisions. Part of the verisimilitude of the story presented in the film is due to the praiseworthy acting of the talented Catalina Sandino Moreno, whose skills are debuted in "Maria Full of Grace." Through her striking expressiveness, Sandino manages to successfully create the strong-willed character of Maria, demonstrating the perfect mix of desperation and determination that propels the 17 year old girl through what could be a mortal journey. Another note-worthy performance is that of Guillied Lopez, who plays Lucy Diaz, the character that initially served as a model in the drug industry for Maria. Lopez, like Sandino, projects the image of a young woman who both knows what she is doing (as she has engaged in two trips as a mule before) and doesn't (which is shown in her fear during the last trip). Yenny Paola Vega (Blanca) also made a commendable job in contrasting Maria's focused personality, in contrast to Johanna Mora's debatable performance as Maria's sister (who, in my opinion, expressed little more than a pair of angry, wide eyes).Though I must admit that this is among the first World Cinema films that I have watched, part of the reason why "Maria Full of Grace" has compelled me so much is how keenly it reflects the reality of Latin America. The Colombian culture is evident in the busy scenes shot in Bogotá and the vibrant atmosphere of the scene in which Blanca and Maria attend a party. The director Joshua Marston's sense of storytelling can be truly appreciated in the manner in which he can transform the opinion of people; amongst the group of people with which I watched this film, there was a shift in how we viewed those who engage in the drug trade. By presenting Maria's story so personally — with his predominant use of hand-held camera shots and a stunning insight on her daily difficulties — the viewer's eyes are opened into a side of the drug trafficking industry to which they would be oblivious otherwise. I believe that this is what makes a good movie, for which I am grateful to Marston. As a fellow Latin American, however, I know I don't stand alone when I say that the ending portrays the United States as the only viable option for good living (therefore painting Colombia and other Central and South American countries as hopeless). There was little opportunity for Maria back in Colombia, though, and perhaps having it end this way is meant to show the perspective and motivation of immigrants. "Maria Full of Grace" deeply affected me in the sense of how blessed I am, for the reality of Latin America that I live in is completely different to that which is presented in the movie — and neither is less real. Though of course I am conscious of the situation with the drug industry, I never quite understood why anybody would want to join any way, much less as a mule given all of the dangers involved. Upon watching this movie I felt grateful of the conditions in which I was born, but also guilty as to the lack of actual sympathizing with those who weren't as lucky. I believe that this is a valuable lesson that anybody can learn from. "Maria Full of Grace" is a movie that deals with the human cost of getting drugs in the hands of other humans, and the exploitation of a person for the economic benefit of another. It is only more impacting because of the fact that thousands of people go through this in reality, which is looming ominously in the back of the viewer's mind during the entirety of the movie. Because of this, I would recommend anyone to watch this movie, because no matter where you live, it is real and it is happening. Though it is rated R by the MPAA, young people should be exposed to this as early as possible as to open their eyes to the reality of the situation. So go watch this movie! I'd give it a 9.5 out of 10 without a doubt.