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Humorless but powerful social drama starring Catalina Moreno as a brave but necessity-driven Colombian girl who is exploited as a "mula" by drug smugglers. The film is a well-researched and thorough exposition of how poor Colombians are abused by a scheme in which they put their lives at risk by carrying drugs in their stomachs. It has a foreign-film feel, but was actually written and directed by American white-boy Josh Marston.
The first third of the movie drags us through the pathetic circumstances of family necessity that push newly-pregnant Moreno to the big city in hope of earning some cash. Next comes an extended second act in which we are mercilessly exposed to the graphic detail of how obscene amounts of the potentially lethal contraband are gagged down by the mules (think Fear Factor without the music). The third act involves the actual smuggling, which goes in to traditionally structured cinematic conventions of crisis and conflict.
Two things sweeten what would otherwise be a bitter pill, long on importance and short on entertainment. One is the fact that nearly every frame includes Moreno's pretty face, and we are ultimately encouraged by her resourcefulness and courage. The other is the inspiring presence of real-life hero Orlando Tobon ("Don Fernando"), whose real-world travel agency and charitable efforts on behalf of the mules become the centerpiece of the film's American segments.
Movie snobs like moi will consider Maria time well spent, but don't go expecting a war-on-drugs action-adventure shoot-em-up.
score /10
Ron in LA 25 October 2004
Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw0951997/ |
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1-12-2019 18:20:56