TALE OF DESPERATION

Transporting Heroin To U.S. Seems Like The Only Way Out For 'Maria Full Of
Grace'

"Maria Full of Grace" sees the drug trade through the eyes of a teenager
who transports heroin to the United States in her belly.

Fast-paced and terrifying, it follows Maria, a 17-year-old from Colombia, as
she quits her abusive job on a rose plantation to become a drug mule.
Written and directed by Joshua Marston, "Maria" won the audience award for
drama at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival.

Marston, 35, got the idea for the film after meeting a woman who had worked
as a drug mule. "When she described precisely what it was like, moment by
moment, I realized it had the potential for being a very tense script," he
says.

Tense is the word, from the moment that Maria accepts her first job,
swallows 62 pellets stuffed with heroin, boards a plane and faces suspicious
U.S. Customs officials, knowing the pellets could leak and kill her at any
time. But, pregnant and poor, she can't resist the $5,000 payment.

Catalina Sandino Moreno, who plays Maria, had never taken a lead role in a
film. One of the most difficult scenes for her was when Maria chokes down
the pellets after practicing on large grapes.

Moreno actually swallowed large fake pellets, a process that is disturbing
to watch and had to be even more disturbing to do. "I was scared because I
saw how big they were," she says. "It was so freaky."

Perhaps it's no surprise that Marston, who has an master's degree in
political science and a master of fine arts degree in filmmaking, should
make such a topical film. Written in Spanish with English subtitles, the
film combines many of his interests -- politics in Colombia, immigration
issues and the drug war.

"For me, filmmaking is this great medium that allows me to be visual and
creative, as well as political and analytical," he says.

"Maria" is his first feature-length film. Marston wrote the first draft of
the screenplay in 48 hours, he says, although not a single line of the
original remains in the final version. The character of Maria developed over
a couple of years. "She's someone who is a little rebellious, defiant and
naive," Marston says, "and who is trying to get out of a world that seems
to box her in."

One of the challenges was finding the right actress for the role. Marston
auditioned 800 young women without finding his Maria. The shooting had just
been postponed when he received a videotape from Colombia of Moreno, who had
been asked to improvise. "Having spent so many years with the character, I
had a fairly specific idea of her," he says, "and with Catalina, it was
like recognizing someone."

Moreno, 23, previously had been unsuccessful in auditioning for roles and
was reluctant to try for the film because she was busy with college. But her
mother, a pathologist, encouraged her to give it a try. "She really pushed
me," Moreno says.

Moreno comes from a middle-class background and knew little about the drug
trade or the poverty that leads some people to become mules. To prepare for
her role, she spent two weeks working on a flower plantation and came away
shocked by the harshness of the work.

"It was so hard -- their hands are dry, their eyes itch, their skin breaks,
and they have to stand for 12 hours a day," she says. "You never notice it
- -- in Bogota, you just buy flowers in the streets."

The experience got her to empathize more deeply with her character. "Maria
was born there," she says metaphorically. "I could understand why she
would decide to leave."

Part of the film is set in Jackson Heights, Queens, shedding light on the
lives of immigrants from Colombia. A character named Don Fernando is played
by community leader Orlando Tobon, who runs a travel agency and often
assists immigrants. According to press materials, Tobon, who became the
film's associate producer, has helped repatriate the bodies of Colombian
drug mules who died while trying to come to the United States.

Moreno now lives in Manhattan, where she moved to study acting. Ironically,
after finishing the film and returning from a trip to Colombia, she was
stopped and questioned by U.S. Customs officials for a few hours. Unlike
Maria, who is cool and collected in the film when pulled aside, Moreno was
deeply frightened by the experience.

"My hands were shaking and my heart was pounding so hard, I thought
everyone could hear it," she says. "In that moment, I thought I was going
to die."

Maria Full of Grace

Opens Friday

Rated: R (obscenity, violence, drug use)

Starring: Catalina Sandino Moreno

Writer-director: Joshua Marston

Running time: 1 hour, 41 minutes