Maria Llena Eres de Gracia

Maria Full of Grace

By Olivia Mulholland

1. English Summary
This movie is based on many true stories. Maria Alvarez is a seventeen-year-old girl living
in Columbia with her mother, her sister and her sisters son/ Maria's nephew. Due to
Columbia's very disadvantaged state of living, Maria is expected to work every day
providing money for her family. Maria is a very thoughtful teenager and works in a flower
factory alongside her best friend Blanca. Their job is to tear the thorns off the flowers in
preparation for all flowers to be packaged.
Maria also has a boyfriend Juan that didnt appear to treat her very well due to his
judgements of Maria and her way of living. Maria soon discovered that she was pregnant
with Juan's baby. Despite this discovery Maria still turned down his proposal.
Maria's pregnancy soon interfered with her work when she experienced morning sickness
at work. Maria's boss refused to let her use the toilet and demanded that she clean up her
mess. After this occurred Maria informed her boss that she will no longer be working for
him due to the way he treated his employees. With Maria's sister; Diana's son suffering
from an illness, Maria's money is needed for antibiotics but due to Maria's actions at work
today (she quit) Maria's mother became angry at Maria, forcing her to hand over her money
from her final pay check from the factory.
Due to Maria's refusal to return to work in the factory she gave herself one or two days off
before it was time to go job searching again. Maria and best friend Blanca went to a
gathering and it was here when the two girls re-connected with an old friend and his cousin
Franklin. Maria had left Juan and Franklin thought Maria was a very pretty young woman.
The relaxing days were over and Maria was on her way to a wealthy friend in Bogota to
apply for a job as their maid but it was only when Franklin arrived and offered her a lift on
his motorcycle and this was when Maria's mind had changed regarding her search for a
new job to provide money for her family. With a long journey ahead of them Maria and
Franklin communicated a lot. Franklin informed Maria that he knew a man looking for
mules to travel abroad in exchange for a much higher amount of money in comparison to
a basic wage in Columbia. Maria decided to give it a shot and met the man seeking
employees to travel to New York carrying drugs inside her stomach. After a number of
questions Maria was hired. Although it was evident that Maria was scared and nervous for
the trip she hid this from her family until Diana began to question her. Due to the size of
the tubes of drugs that Maria has to swallow, she was advised to practice this by
swallowing grapes fully. The day came and it was the day Maria was travelling to New York.
Franklin dropped her off at the pharmacy where she was to swallow as many as she could.
Giving it her all Maria swallowed 62 tubes of drugs and soon became aware that Blanca
was also going to do the same however Blanca only swallowed 50 so was not going to
receive the same amount of money as Maria.
The trip over was nerve racking with four mules on the plane and one mule, Lucy was very
sick. When the girls arrived, Maria was brought into questioning as customs believed she
was a mule however Maria was not caught seeing that Pregnant women are not allowed
to be X-Rayed. The three girls; Lucy, Maria and Blanca were greeted nastily by two young
men and were basically thrown into the back of a van. Lucy became more and more sick
and failed to retrieve any of the drugs while Blanca and Maria basically retrieved all 112
tubes. Maria awoke during the night and went to the toilet only to see blood everywhere
and Lucy gone alongside the two young men. Blanca and Maria assumed a tube had burst
in Lucy's stomach therefore she was going to die or had already died. Maria and Blanca
left the hotel room in search for Carla, Lucy's sister in New York. The next day Maria arrived
at Carla's apartment and introduced herself as Lucy's friend. Carla invited Maria to stay as
she was hoping she would see Lucy again for the first time in 10 years. After Maria and
Blanca had split up, Blanca soon arrived at Carla's too. Seeking information from a
Spanish person wasnt easy but Carla directed Maria and Blanca to Don Fernando who
provided the girls with information on Lucy's whereabouts. Don Fernando asked the girls
to come back and then he would have the information for the two of them. Maria
connected with Carla and began to develop a relationship with one another. Carla
encouraged Maria to consider staying in New York because Carla explained the happiest
feeling of the first pay check that she sent home.
2 days later, Don Fernando informed Maria and Blanca that Lucy's body had been found
with her stomach ripped open. Maria found it difficult to come to terms with it and couldn't
come to telling Diana about her sister. Don Fernando called Diana the next day and told
her. The girls were immediately thrown out of Carla's house in anger.
Maria took Diana's advice about staying in New York and thought about her pregnancy.
She went for a scan in the local clinic and received an appointment for the following month.
Blanca and Maria called the two men arranging to meet them in order to receive their
money. After the girls fought for not only their own money but also for Lucy's, they only
managed to receive their own. Maria gave Don Fernando the exact amount of money to
send Lucy's body back to Columbia.
Carla didnt have any time for Maria nor Blanca but when Maria arrived at Lucy's open
coffin, Carla was praying in tears. Maria explained she didnt mean to disturb her and that
she was hoping to say her goodbyes.
The next day, Maria and Blanca were in the airport ahead of their flight back home but
when it came to boarding Maria decided to begin a different life and so she stayed in New
York.
 2. Cast Members

Name description

Maria Alvarez;
Main Character.
Played by
Catalina Sandino
Friend of Carla,
Blanca, Lucy, and
Franklin
Sister of Diana

Blanca; played by
Yenny Paola
Vega.

Friend of Maria
 Lucy Diaz: played
by Guillied Lopez
Sister of Carla
Friend of Maria

Carla Diaz: played

by Patricia Rae
Sister of Lucy

Javier; played by
Jaime Osorio
Gomez
Friend of Franklin
Mule employer
 Franklin; played
by John Alex Toro
Friend of Javier
and Maria

Juan; played by
Wilson Guerrero
Ex-Boyfriend of
Maria

3. Spanish summary
Maria lvarez, viva en Columbia y no tiene dineros para su familia.
Maria trabajaba en una fabrca de flores con su amiga Blanca
pero no le gust as que trabaj para Javier con muchas drogas en
Nueva York. Maria est embarazada en Nueva York. Maria trabaj
in Nueva York con su amigas Lucy y Blanca pero Lucy mueres por
las drogas en su estomago en el avon. En Nueva York Maria
encontra con hermana de Lucy pero Carla no conoce por Lucy y
las drogas. Cuando Carla conoce por Lucy, estba muy triste.
Maria tiene muchos dineros y da a Carla para Lucy. Maria queda
en Nueva York con su bebe. Maria empeza una nueva vida.

4.My reflection
This movie was my first Spanish movie and it was good. I'm not a
fan of movies that have been set over 10 years ago. The movie
had a strong enjoyable story line which made the movie more
exciting especially when Maria nearly got caught for bringing drugs
into the United States.
What are my thoughts about the movie?
This movie was good but wasnt amazing. I think the graphics
could've been better however some features of this movie suited
the setting of Columbia. I think the characters all played their role
very well however I would have liked to see more acting from
Blanca and in my opinion if Juan had more acting time he could've
potentially been a questioning character due to his fluctuating
attitude towards Maria throughout the first part of the movie.
What have I learned from this movie?
This movie has taught me to not be impulsive when making
decisions as I dont believe the best way for Maria to get the
money she needed was by becoming a mule for Javier. This movie
has also taught me to tell the truth because the consequences
can follow you. Marias character was very independent and that
taught me to always depend on myself and not others.
Who would I recommend this movie to?
I would recommend this movie to people living in a disadvantaged
area as it may be a form of inspiration to them. I would also
recommend this movie to anyone who enjoys watching movies
with an adventure.
My rating:
I would rate this movie three stars out of five!