DRUG SMUGGLING TALE HITS YOU IN THE GUT AND HEART

Maria Full Of Grace (4 stars)

Starring Catalina Sandino Moreno, Guilied Lopez and Yenny Paola Vega.
Written and directed by Joshua Marston. 101 minutes. At the Cumberland. 14A

No one who sees Maria Full Of Grace will ever read a story about drug
smuggling without reliving a few moments of clammy fear. A literally
gut-wrenching story, this remarkable first feature by New York director
Joshua Marston is based on research into the U.S.-Colombian drug trade and
the poverty that drives people to risk their lives transporting heroin
inside their stomachs.

Marston was inspired to make Maria Full Of Grace after a woman in his
Brooklyn neighbourhood, home to many Colombian emigres, told him her story
of swallowing capsules of heroin and boarding a plane for the United States.

For all that it is backed up by real events, the film's wallop is packed in
a well-crafted drama outstandingly performed by a young, mostly
Colombian-born cast.

Outside a village in rural Colombia, Maria Alvarez works on a flower
plantation, stripping the thorns off roses and packaging the flowers for the
market. Tired of the oppressive conditions, her bullying boss and working to
support her sister, mother, grandmother and nephew, Maria quits her job.

She is a fearless 17-year-old, scaling a wall to reach a rooftop, and
taunting her boyfriend Juan to follow her. He's hardly her match, and when
she finds she's pregnant, she treats his offer of marriage with contempt.
Defiant, she dumps Juan, telling him she never loved him.

Casting off her job, her family and her boyfriend, Maria is heading for
Bogota looking for work as a maid, when she hitches a ride with Franklin, a
guy she met at a party. Franklin has a certain urbanity and charm. He offers
to make a connection for Maria, to get her a job where she can travel. She
can be a mule. The money is too good to resist: up to $5,000 for one trip.

Preparations for the trip include learning how to swallow up to 100
thumb-sized pellets of heroin sealed in layers of latex. Maria gets some
advice on how to do it, and how to comport herself, from Lucy, a
self-possessed beauty who has made two previous trips.

On the day of departure, Maria is upset to find her friend Blanca has agreed
to be a mule. Four women in all board the flight for New York. Martson
contrives to put the viewer in the passenger seat.

There's a direct experience of the women's mounting discomfort and anxiety.
One woman is held at customs. Lucy is ill and Maria has to endure
questioning from two customs agents who are certain she is carrying drugs.

The fact that the man and woman examining her are perfectly reasonable makes
the situation no less harrowing. Maria only makes it through because she's
discovered to be pregnant. "We don't X-ray pregnant women," the officer
tells her. He knows what else she's carrying.

Two American gangsta types meet the women at the airport and take them to a
New Jersey motel to claim their drugs. Maria's risk-taking will have
consequences far beyond anything she imagined. Without getting terribly
graphic, Marston takes us on a journey that makes Traffic look like a walk
in the park.

Catalina Sandino Moreno gives a riveting performance as Maria, imbuing her
character with all the fire and grace that is demanded of her. Acting the
parts of Lucy and Blanca, Guilied Lopez and Yenny Paola Vega contribute to
one of the most viscerally felt films of the year.

According to U.S. Customs, 145 people were intercepted carrying drugs
internally through JFK International Airport last year. It is a sobering
thought to realize that for each of them there is a story to tell as
harrowing as Maria's.