FILM-FORWARD.COMReviews of Recent Independent, Foreign, & Documentary Films in Theaters and DVD/Home Video
MARIA FULL OF GRACE
During a lunch break, plump and plain Blanca confides to Maria (Moreno) that she was stood up on a date. Maria laughs mockingly, though assuring her friend she’s not
laughing at her. In fact, Maria does look down on everyone. She hates her job stripping thorns at
a rose plantation, lives in a cramped apartment with four generations of her family, and resents
having to give a chunk of her pay to her older sister, a single mother. The film begins with
strong, subtly-acted vignettes of her daily life. There's a flash of disdain as she appraises her
mechanic-boyfriend Juan, who hasn't quite matured yet, physically or mentally. She knows all
this kid can give her is vendor food, and barely that. (They inevitably break-up in a
beautifully written scene.) The lure of quick and plentiful cash from the drug trade is too
powerful to resist. Through a leather-clad young man she meets at a dance, Maria hooks up with
a drug lord, Javier, in Bogotá. After passing his test (she lies and adds one year to her 17), she is
ordered to fly to New York with several "rolls of film," and is told to dress nicely, but not too
flashy. "You don't want to look like a peasant showing off," warns Javier. The middle of the
film, after Maria leaves the Colombian backwater, is harrowing, wrenching and retching -
especially the flight to New York. But when Maria lands in America, the linear narrative
becomes less sure-footed, requiring leaps of faith that make the film seem too easily resolved.
One ordeal follows another, eventually leading Maria to the home of Carla (Patricia Rae), a Colombian
immigrant living in Queens. Patricia Rae's performance here is the heart and soul of the film, a
counterbalance to the flinty and dissembling Maria. The title's irony aside, this is a
clear-headed and often compelling film. Writer/director Joshua Marston has created an almost
Dickensian tale with a refreshingly empathetic protagonist. Far from wide-eyed, Maria knows exactly what she
is getting herself into. Determined and opportunistic, she is hardly a victim. She is the best kind
of bitch, one who doesn't care what people think. Kent Turner
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