Maria Full of Grace

What constitutes a life of grace? Is it moral piety or exercising goodwill? Or does it spring from acting from oneís heart and desires? Joshua Marstonís auspicious debut feature, Maria Full of Grace, addresses these questions with inspired honesty and clarity.

Spirited and rebellious Maria Alvarez lives with three generations of her family in a cramped concrete house in a rural town north of Bogota. She works alongside her neighbors at a hazardous, mind-numbing job stripping thorns from flowers on a rose plantation. Because Mariaís paycheck supports the family, she is stuck. But her passion to break out of her limited world drives her to posh at its boundaries. When she meets Franklin, a stylish young man, he piques her interest with talk of a cool job that involves travel. However, when Franklin says the word ìmule,î Maria realizes immediately what he means: swallowing dozens of thumb-sited rubber pellets full of heroin and transporting them to the United States.

Catalina Sandino Moreno gives an exceptional performance as a young woman facing this crossroads with bravery, grit, and yesógrace. Marston demonstrates a fantastic eye for detail and crafts a narrative with disarming rawness and authenticity. Maria Full of Grace is as important a story as it is an impressive directorial debut.