There are some common signs that indicate if a movie is good. A typical one is if the movies receives positive reviews. Another is if the movie is well liked by those friends who share similar taste to you. The third, which is the least frequent of the three, is if you walk away bawling your eyes out from the movie while seeing it the second time, feeling as though your life will never be the same again.
Yeah… the third scenario is a pretty accurate description of what happened after I watched Maria Full of Grace for the second time in my life.
There are many reasons I can feel so close to this movie to be moved to tears. Let me start first with the most logical explanation. I originally watched this movie in my Spanish class senior year. The particular class I was in was centered around political and cultural history of hispanic countries. To me, this was more interesting than learning to speak another language. Anyway, in the unit pertaining to Maria Full of Grace, we learned about the situation in Colombia beforehand. It was frightening for me to hear, read and see stories of children being sucked into drug cartels and wars. I saw kids younger than me dressed in military uniforms shooting at other children the same age on opposing sides. I read articles about the corrupted politics in Colombia and how the government secretly takes so much money from different drug organizations and continue to permit this corrupt cycle. I heard outcry from citizens of Colombia that the United States does very little to help the people of their country to escape this dangerous lifestyle. Learning about the real life situation that actually goes on gave the movie more meaning than most of the ones we saw during the immigrant section. Yet, there is another key element to this. When I was in 10th grade, I was actually able to see and help the man who plays Don Fernando. Although seeing him speak in front of us didn’t seem as important back in 10th grade because I hadn’t learned about the situation or watched the movie, I still remember being completely taken by our school community working together to donate clothes and toys to one of his organizations. Looking back, I realized how real everything that happened in the movie was. This is a situation that truly happens in the real world and is a huge problem.
The second reason I found this movie to affect me so much is because the characters were so relatable. I felt pure sympathy for Maria and her situation. Although she did do certain things that were perhaps morally wrong (you know, like smuggling drugs from one country to the next) I could completely understand why she did it. Maria’s situation in Colombia was so bad, that risking her own health, as well as her own baby’s safety, seemed like the only thing to do to escape her life. Of course, it was a decision that was selfish because she risked the life of her baby, but the reasons she did all of it was legitimate. No one smuggle drugs just for the fun of it. Maria was desperate and her morality is questionable, but when it comes down to it, she did what she had to to survive. In this way, I felt like I could know her. She wasn’t always moral or right, but then again who is? The important factor for me was that she showed strength throughout the movie. Even though Maria had plenty times to break down and cry, or to give up, she stuck with her decision and tried to make the best of it. I also believe she tried to be as moral as she could in an immoral situation, for example when she gives Don Fernando the money to send Lucy’s body back to Colombia.
I also thought the way the director portrayed the film was excellent. I especially liked his use of colors and camera angles. The scene where they are in the airplane waiting to land in the United States had me on the edge of my seat. There was very little dialogue in that scene, only the sound of the plane flying, and close ups on the characters faces that were sweating and worried during the ride. As well, in the flower workshop scene, the contrast of the red flowers and white walls and coats helps to add to the feeling that the factory is like an asylum. Even in the scene where Maria is pulled over by security, I was truly worried that she would get in trouble, because the close ups on the facial expressions were so intense. The mood was serious and a huge part of that had to do with the directors choose of angles and colors.
Overall, I found this movie to be the most influential and inspirational. Maria Full of grace is a movie a truly filled with grace itself. Gracias.
