Maria Full of Grace: DVD & Movie Review (2004) by Christopher Smith

(Originally published 2004)

Joshua Marston's "Maria Full of Grace," one of last year's best, least-seen films, features a performance by Catalina Sandino Moreno that has won her an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress. This is unusual for a few reasons.

First, "Maria" is a foreign language film, which the Academy tends to recognize most through the umbrella of Best Foreign Film. Exceptions have been made, of course, but if you're an actor seeking an Oscar nomination, history has proved that you better be speaking English if you hope to get noticed.

Second, the movie was released in July 2004, thus giving the Academy months to forget about it and, in turn, about Moreno's beautifully measured performance, which somehow is the first of her career.

As directed by Marston from his own script, this excellent, absorbing film begins with Maria's turbulent life in Colombia, where she strips thorns from roses in a floral sweatshop, gives most of her money to her difficult family, and worries about her relationship with her boyfriend, Juan (Wilson Guerrero), the other thorn in her life.

At 17, Maria is pregnant with Juan's child. Worse for her is that she's more vulnerable than she would like to admit, particularly after quitting her job. And so when she meets the charismatic Franklin (Jhon Alex Toro) at a dance with her friend Blanca (Yenny Paola Vega), Maria's life takes a dramatic turn as the attraction between she and Franklin blooms.

Knowing Maria needs work, Franklin suggests she become a mule - one of the dozens of women used by Colombian drug lords to ship drugs into the United States.

To do so, Maria must meet with the head of a local drug cartel, take pills to slow her digestion, swallow nearly 70 large rubber pellets filled with God-knows-what, and then hop a plane for the States, where she will be greeted by two thugs eager for her to expel the drugs so they can get them on the streets.

For her trouble, Maria will receive a sizable chunk of cash and with it the promise of a new, independent life. But all isn't so easy in the drug world, and what becomes of Maria as the system has its way with her makes for one hell of a good movie, the bare bones of which I've only touched on here.

What's so admirable about "Maria" is how Marston never romanticizes, never goes for the easy cliche. He knows well enough not to meddle, just to observe, allowing his hooks to pull at the film's center without revealing the lines that make his movie so gripping.

As for Moreno, that she didn't slip through the Academy's cracks in spite of the onslaught of Oscar hopefuls that flood the market at year's end says plenty about how talent sometimes really does see its way through. She's such a natural, she's almost unnatural, but in the best sense of the word. It's not every day at the movies that you meet someone as gifted as this.

Grade: A