Maria Full of Grace
2004, U.S.A., 101m
Director: Joshua Marsten
Spanish
Rated R
Maria Alvarez (Catalina Sandino Moreno in a stunning debut) works in near-sweatshop conditions at a local flower plantation de-thorning roses. Maria gets fed up with her treatment and quits. Her search for a new job leads her to being a drug mule.
This could have fallen into the trap of being a very preachy movie, but it doesn’t. Instead, the presentation of the situation is much more detached and gritty. The cinematography (Jim Denault, Boys Don’t Cry) is largely hand-held and entirely excellent, and really shines on the photograph-like close-ups of the main characters—shots in which Denault lingers a few seconds longer than you’d necessarily expect. It’s these shots that convey the tension and emotion of each scene to you.
I was particularly interested in the scene during which Maria has to swallow her drug pellets—for me, it brought forth memories of Paul Newman eating the eggs in Cool Hand Luke
My only complaint about this film is that, in one or two places, the cliché of coming-of-age movies almost breaks through to the surface. The good news is it never quite makes it. Overall, Maria Full of Grace is well worth seeing. Highly recommended—say, four stars out of five.