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Catalina Sandina Moreno
last picture Catalina at Oscar feb 27,2005
Screentest Movie Review
Maria... Well Worth The Wait
Maria Full of Grace (HBO Films, Fine Line Features)
Starring: Catalina Sandina Moreno
Dir.: Joshua Marston
Possibly the most exciting and the most heart-wrenching tale of the summer,
Maria Full of Grace is an eye opening experience that may well leave you
speechless. The Sundance Film Festivalšs sparkling gem, this film won full
honors as the audience's choice for best drama. If the terms independent or
low-budget have been turn-offs in the past, let Maria change your mind,
as the experience gives new meaning to the less blockbuster like side of the
industry.
Starting out in Columbia, we follow the enigmatic Maria (Catalina Sandina
Moreno) as she goes about her daily chores. She shaves thorns off of roses
in a flower factory, working grueling hours, and then she goes and lets her
mother take the money to feed her sister's baby. Her boyfriend doesn't treat
her right, and when she reveals her pregnancy to him, they mutually reveal
their lack of love in each other. The seventeen year old has hit a dead end
in her now solitary existence, and is vehemently searching for an out.
As it happens to be, an out comes in the form of a new boyfriend with connections
to the drug runners. When Maria quits her flower job to become a drug mule
the quick money seems to be worth the risk, however when her best friend
Blanca () follows in her footsteps, the two set out on a journey that will
change their lives forever. Getting wrapped up in a world they barely knew
existed, the girls have a harrowing experience as they journey to the states
with bags of drugs in their bellies.
Avoiding customs, surviving the night, and then finding their way home are
only a few of the problems that await Maria and Blanca in New York City. It
seems that quick money comes with quick trouble, and the girls are not too
slow to figure out that sticking with the plan could be their worst decision.
In a harrowing display of moral dilemmas and human needs and ambition, director
Joshua Marston tells Maria's story, reaching into the hearts of his audience.
It is rare when a director can create such a vivid and realistic experience
out of such a terrible chain of events, while allowing his vision to keep
the desired effect, and that is just what Marston does.
Not only is this Marston's debut, the film is the debut of Catalina Sandina
Moreno as well. Before Maria Full of Grace Catalina had not acted in any
movies, yet her portrayal of this girl who is down on her luck is so moving
and so wonderful that it has earned her top honors at many film festivals
around the world, including Seattlešs own SIFF. The brilliance of Catalina's
performance is an integral part of what allows the movie to be so invigorating
in its dreariness.
Half in Spanish and half in English, the film has a raw and almost unadulterated,
untouched feeling that has been lost in many recent films. Daring audiences
to question what they truly know about stereotypes, this story turns a seemingly
common criminal, a Columbian drug mule, into an innocent young girl who is
mixed up in a business she does not understand.
The extent to which the film can be disturbing is part of what makes this
film so wonderful as well. There is one scene in particular that redefines
being uncomfortable in the small confines of an airplane. The scene in which
Blanca and Maria realize they are not the only drug mules on the plane coveys
the reality of their situation to them when their stomachs full of drugs begin
to be affected by their bladders. They must have all the drugs when arriving,
and they cannot risk customs finding them, so using the bathroom is their
last resort. The daring and troubling scene is only one of the many shocking
experiences which this film relates.
Joshua Marston has fashioned a masterpiece, and Catalina Sandina Moreno
has put on a dazzling display of pure talent; together they have created one
of the most spectacular theater experiences of the summer.
Review By: Dave Stone
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