"To be Colombian is an act of faith"

Jorge Luis Borges

Whilst I write this, I am reading on the Internet about Catalina Sandino's Oscar nomination in the Best leading Actress category for her role in the film María Full of Grace, in which she plays a young Colombian girl who decides to work as a "mule" trafficking cocaine in her body to New York.

The article on the web is full of praise and top quality adjectives, and states that this is the greatest Award received in the history of Colombian cinema, and that Joshua Marston's film was a masterpiece by any reckoning. Despite the enormity and strength of appraisals, as well as the important Awards that the Colombian-United States co-production has won, my questions about the film were growing rapidly.

To eliminate any doubt on the matter and before trying to explain my feeling of unease, I truly believe that María Full of Grace is a wonderful film by Sandino that shows an accessible story and generally speaking, achieves an artistic balance that is worthy of being noted as a good film.

When one lives in a state like ours with so many problems it is easy to idealise the sporadic success of our citizens in an unhealthy way, and even consider them our own. That is how we believe ourselves to be very close to Gabriel García Márquez's novels, Shakira's songs or Juan Pablo Montoya's single-seater.

However, that exaggerated patriotism leads us to the wrong conclusions. María Full of Grace is far from being the greatest Colombian film, and analytically speaking it isn't even that Colombian. In fact, the director is American along with the majority of money invested in it. Also, many of the scenes were filmed in Ecuador.

However, the Awards it has won are undeniable. Best debut film on the New York specialist critics circuit; nomination as Director and Actress in the Los Angeles and Washington critics Association; best foreign film for the San Francisco critics Association; an Audience Award in the Sundance Festival; six nominations in the Cartagena Film Festival; three awards in the Deauville American Film Festival (including the great judges award); and above all, two prestigious awards in the Berlin Film Festival (the Silver Bear for Catalina Sandino Moreno, and the Alfred Bauer award for Joshua Marston).

It is fair to say that the film isn't bad by any measure, and it boasts a number of Awards to its name. So why do I still have this unpleasant feeling? The answer seems to be a little unclear, but it is there.

I am not trying to discredit the work at all costs, but to attribute to it a fair criticism. That's why we notice a crack in Marston's work in the script, and more importantly, with María Alvarez's character. In fact María, a strong character from the outset, who climbs up onto the roof of the house while her friend wouldn't dare, often arguing with her family, quitting her job, leaving her boyfriend despite carrying his baby, and finally deciding to work as a mule without hesitation; suddenly changes (in New York airport and throughout almost all of the following period) into a simple, timid young girl who is unable to answer police questions convincingly, stupidly asking Don Fernando about Lucy's body, and carrying the drugs with her.

There are other isolated parts that aren't logical. For example, when María Alvarez follows Lucy she asks her if she is also a mule, and Lucy replies that she is (in reality, by getting on a bus at some sector in Bogotá without getting hurt is a miracle in itself, and furthermore, no mule would openly admit to being one to a stranger). The drug dealers are insensitive to the pain young Lucy suffers as a latex pellet full of drugs explodes inside her, but are later kind, by giving money to María and her companion after they escape with the drugs. Another example is when the police free María without taking into account that she has no valid reason to be in the U.S.A.

The success abroad that the film has achieved is justified insofar as it is the first film to humanise and give a face to the subject of trafficking cocaine, and the actors aren't the typical cruel drug dealers that appear in police dramas. On the contrary, it deals with a pretty young country girl who is forced by difficult social conditions to risk her life and that of her baby to enable her to face the future with dignity.

That is María's choice, to stay in a land where opportunities abound for everyone, the beautiful place always dreamt about as the "American way of life". In the final scene Joshua shows slow motion images of the utopia, the bliss and greatness of his nation. The film gives the impression of being politically correct, having been inspired by thousands of similar cases, morally free and independent of cinema rules, but it unfortunately avoids the reality that María will face as an illegal immigrant in the U.S.A. Her suffering doesn't come to and end, it still continues.

Official Site:

http://www.mariallenaeresdegracia.com

48th The Times London Film Festival