Best movie ever!

A different way of telling a story

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

I really feel like I "should" like this movie, and to be honest, i probably gave it a better grade then the film itself deserves due to the important topic that it handles, and about which relatively few movies (that aren't documentaries) handle. Yet what a horribly boring movie. The main mistake that this movie made is very typical for "serious" topic movies - making it excruciatingly slow. If you are one of those people who enjoy long, drawn out shots, with no other purpose than to show the characters reaction to something, you might like this film. yet, even at that, i found most long short not to hold that much emotion, acting, etc. secondly as a "typical" mistake, I would say "layering too much drama". You know those movies in which you have one dramatic setting, but since that doesn't seem like enough, they add a very dramatic sub-plot to the character, and then a very dramatic back-story, and then a very dramatic subplot to the subplot? Well, this might just be my heartless opinion, but when something is super over-dramatic, it loses all credibility , authenticity, and interest. Then again, I'm not one to enjoy telenovelas. I could go on, but those are the main points, and I find them to be two main factors that might effect someone linking or disliking it. hope it helps!

Maria Full of DrugsAn incredible film in which Joshua Marston presents to us one of the many realities teenagers live in Colombia, and how one decision can change your life. Watching this movie, of the decision a teenager makes to help herself, as well as her family financially, definitely makes you change your perspective on how you see life compared to the situations of other people around the world. It's a very simple - plot, low budget film, but the movie sends a strong critic to the audience, as well as a message, and it's definitely a must watch for teenagers.In summary, the movie is about Maria, a 17 year old who finds out she is pregnant with her "boyfriends" child, who is a total jerk. She lives with her mother, her sister, and her baby niece, Maria and her mother are the ones who work to provide for the house, her sister just stays at home taking care of her child. She finds herself quitting her old job at a flower factory, and looking for a new one, and on her way to find herself a new job to make "big money" in Bogota, she get's an interesting offer from a friend to work as a mule to New York City. With the money she makes in this trip, she could provide and live comfortably with her family, not to mention they could even afford a new house, plus the baby is on it's way, so she makes the decision for herself, and her baby that she needs the money and takes the job.She ends up confronting a lot of problems along the way, and ends up changing her life, from what started out as just as a trip for a job.The cast of the movie I must say that it was very good. From the flower factory supervisor that says barely twenty lines, to our main character: Catalina Sandino. Catalina Sandino was a great actress in this film, her acting came out as very natural, like if she wasn't acting at all, she plays a very mature 17 year old, the only thing that I did not like about her acting, or her character was that she did not show much emotions, she almost always had a poker face. Another character I didn't like at all, but she is a good actress was Yenny Paola Vega, who played the role of Maria's best friend Blanca. I didn't like her character since the character she played was very frustrating, and immature, her too, had a very natural acting. The only actress in the cast that I noticed that she was acting, was Maria's sister, her acting didn't come off as natural. Besides that, the cast was very good, and everyone did a great job acting.The movie, as I said before has a very simple plot, and it's a low budget movie and I think that that's what I like the most about it, Marston keeps it simple on telling the story, no visual effects or anything like that needed. One of the scenes I liked the most is when Maria is in the doctor and the doctor shows Maria her baby, and tells her that the baby is fine; I guess I liked this part because after all that she was through, the baby survived, it was a beautiful scene, since she discovers that she is soon going to be a mother. One scene I did not like at all in the movie, I thought it was a little disgusting is when Maria swallows the drugs. It is part of the movie, and it was good that they filmed that because it proves a point, it makes the situation more real, but I personally found it not nice to watch.The story has a deeper meaning, besides the plot of Maria transferring drugs, it also has a lot of hope in it, hope to get the money, hope to help her family, hope that her baby will have a better life than she did. And it definitely is a strong film, because thousands of teenagers have been in her shoes, no money, a baby on the way, and needs help financially, so it opens your eyes to a reality you probably didn't even think of, and I liked that because it made me feel grateful.I recommend this film to teenagers all over the world, but of course PG-13, because of that one scene where she swallows the drugs. So I recommend it to teenagers, because I think that its important that people watch this film, and of course also to adults. I would not recommend this film to kids, because they would have a hard time understanding it. Overall, I enjoyed watching the movie, and I thought it was a very good film, even thought it wasn't " Hollywood" it sure is better than many of Hollywood films. I give this movie a 10/10.

After watching the movie "Maria Full of Grace," a spectator encounters various topics worth discussing. This movie deals with topics such as drug trafficking, teenage pregnancies, violence, and Colombia's tough reality. It was developed by Joshua Marston in 2004 and has been awarded various awards including an audience award at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival. It is a very crude movie, but it shows the real Colombia instead of the touristic version of it. The storyline is very interesting because this is something that could happen to anyone, not just to one person or just to the character in the movie. For all we know, there could be, and probably are, a million Marias out there in the world.The story begins in Bogota, Colombia, where Maria lives in a crowded house with her mother, her grandmother, her sister, and her sister's son. Maria is working in a flower plantation but decides to quit due to her boss's mistreatment. Later on, she finds out that she is carrying a baby and she must find a way to maintain the child. She is then offered a job as a drug mule and in her desperation decides to accept it, which takes her to New York and makes her encounter dangerous drug dealers and a couple of events that mark her life forever. Maria Alvarez is portrayed by Catalina Sandino Moreno, who was nominated for an Oscar for Best Actress. Her character is a 17-year old pregnant Colombian teenager who finds herself stuck in the problems of drug trafficking.Catalina Sandino did a spectacular job as an actress. Her acting comes out naturally and realistic. There is no point in the story where you doubt the credibility of her story. Yenny Paola Vega portrays Blanca, one of Maria's closest friends, who also gets involved in the drug dealing business. Her character is very arrogant and stressful, yet she does a great job at transmitting these emotions. As for Lucy's sister, Carla, the actress, Patricia Rae, did a very mediocre job at playing her character. Everything looks over exaggerated and it doesn't seem natural. She should have kept it more believable because her crying looks forced, her interactions with other characters look unreal and her character becomes totally fake.What I enjoyed most about this movie was the main theme. It becomes really entertaining and engaging to watch a movie with such controversial topics and strong plot line. Watching the life of a drug mule and the difficulties she has to overcome it is impossible to stop paying attention and it is almost impossible to breathe due to the extreme intensity of the movie. Yet, I hated the part where Maria arrives at Carla's house out of the blue and she just stays there. It all seemed so easy and impossible. Also, that Maria decided to ask the drug dealers for their money and after that protest that they should get Lucy's money as well. It seemed illogical that the men would just hand over the money. One second they were fighting and the next they were just handing it over. Doesn't that seem a little out of place? This movie is packed with lessons. The one I consider the most important is that in which they show that people shouldn't take the easy way out of things because even though they may seem like the easy way and the most profitable, in this case, it is not always the best way. Here, the choice she makes is immoral; illegal; dangerous, not only for her but for her baby as well; threatening; and simply wrong. There is no debating that drug trafficking is just wrong. There is a reason for it to be illegal: it is wrong. This lesson could be applied in our own lives, not mattering if we are not mules because many times we take the easy way out of things; we may be in desperate needs and some people say that desperate needs call for desperate measures but I could argue differently. There is always a sane way out of things and a right way because we may not see it but choices are always dangling in the air waiting for us to reach out and just take one, hopefully it will be the right one because there are plenty to chose from.I would totally recommend this movie to anyone above the age of 15. It deals with very strong and crude topics and the storyline is just as strong and crude. Nonetheless, it is for people of many ages because its topic is not one discussed only at one age, it is present in the world everyday and everybody knows about it. It is nothing new that mules are around, carrying drugs inside their bodies to earn money and the topic itself is interesting because you get to see different people's points of view on this controversial topic. The title is also very catchy because Maria isn't actually full of grace, she is full of drugs.My name is Ximena and I study at Lincoln School Costa Rica. I am taking the Film Appreciation class and for an assignment we had to watch and analyze this movie. This is the third movie that I watch out of the Hollywood Movies and I am really impressed due to its excellent outcome.

Had to watch this for my women studies class. Why, i don't really know, as it doesn't have much to do with gender issues. Anyway, I can't explain the great reviews. Yes, like most people in the third world she lives below the poverty line. Her life is more boring than a struggle. No wonder she wants to escape. However, it's not really an interesting story line. Yes, drug traffic is dangerous, Lucy dies, but otherwise its pretty mundane. No real character development nothing. while we are on that subject, if you hire no names off the street you aren't going to be able to develop interesting characters. There is a reason movies are supposed to include real actors Nuff said