Maria Full of Grace is a film about a 17-year-old girl named Maria who works on a flower plantation to support her family, and the effects of the decisions that she makes. She has to deal with a significant amount of unfair treatment from the manager at the place where she works and ends up quitting her job as a result. Two themes that are heavy in the film are financial struggles and the issues that come as a result of that, and the use of cities in cinema. The film, which is directed by Joshua Marston is based in Columbia and then switches to New York City. Through this shift in setting, viewers are able to not only understand the theme of financial struggles, but how cities are used in cinema to express the feelings and characteristics of the individuals in the story.
The Theme of Financial Struggles in Films
It can be said that most films that use the theme of financial struggles are making a statement about socioeconomic issues that plague society. Maria Full of Grace is no different. It is immediately visible that her family is struggling, which is why she has obtained the job at the flower plantation. The story, in some ways, follows a formula pattern initially as there is an almost undeniable feeling that Maria will save her family from their problems. Her sister is unemployed, and Maria is essentially the breadwinner of the family.
Adam Smith in a 2004 review, writes the title gives away the financial struggle that Maria faces along with her family. She is headstrong, intelligent, courage, but also struggling to assist her family with their dire circumstances (1). In order for the plot to effectively move forward, the viewer is given an understanding of Maria’s persona in the opening scenes as the plantation work is shown to be unbearable for her. Smith continues by stating that the struggle theme is not uncommon in cinema. It serves Maria Full of Grace well as "80% of rural Columbians live in poverty, since Columbia's annual average income is around $1,800)" (1). So it is not unexpected to see Maria's family struggling as noted earlier. However, where the film differs from the traditional showcase of struggle is that Maria finds herself being offered a position as a drug mule. With hope for a better life for her family, and her child after she discovers she is pregnant, Maria heads to New York City to fulfill the duties of her new job. Maria, played by actress Catalina Moreno, is shown to have reservations about being a drug mule, although this will allow her, and her family to leave poverty behind.
In an article by D. Privitera, it states that films that use the theme of finance, more specifically poverty, tend to show it is a way of bringing the phenomenon that many countries face. Since cinema is especially narrative, certain subject matter can be portrayed in movies that have an effect on the believability of the issues actually being a problem. The imagery serves as a crucial strategic symbol for real life (270-271). What the author is arguing is that the films that are about socioeconomic issues tend to be realistic because they want to provoke a discussion of some kind in the viewer. The audience is meant to connect with the believability of the characters so much so that they discuss the key issue(s) of the film.
Maria Full of Grace, is no different. The film is shot in such a way through Maria’s emotions as she considers whether she wants to be a drug mule, that viewers won’t be able to turn away. Moreno perfectly captures the torn nature of an individual who has to decide whether she will go on a journey into drugs to help her family or remain in Colombia to endure the financial issues another way. Privitera continues adding that films that utilize the theme of poverty, and financial struggles are constructed in a way to make them as realistic as possible. The idea is to create a film tourism concept, which is a saturation of societal problems being put on full display for audiences to absorb (270-272). Another interesting theme in the film is the use of cities as a backdrop.
How Settings Help Film?
In Cities and Cinema by Barbara Mennel, she connects the subject of globalization to cinema, stating that large cities like New York, Los Angeles, Paris, tend to reveal spaces for individuals to rise from their problems (198). This is why it can be said that films about socioeconomic problems that characters face tend to happen or rather occur in cities like New York, Hong Kong, etc. Major cities are settings for "new forms of power and [are] a topographic representation" (Mennel 198) of what can be captured by the characters if they lived there or are able to travel there. For Maria, New York City is the perfect platform for her to start afresh, even if she is doing it as a drug mule.
The film shows Colombia as a place filled with lack and numerous problems. From the dust to the dirty shops, the director spends a significant amount of time to emphasize how horrific the conditions are that Maria and her family are in. In showing New York, the director highlights what Mennel references as "manifestation of global flows in the visual" (201), which is to stress to both the character and the audience that they have found their pot of gold so to speak by being the city. The idea is to convey that the sky is the limit, for Maria.
Mennel writes that cities in cinema are shown to be relational to the character and to present the world in which the viewer lives in as well as the characters in the particular movie. Their use is a clever narrative of photography that make connections and present an expressive language (203). The city of New York is shown to be Maria’s oyster, that she can now explore fully by working for a drug lord, but it also presents to her a way out of her plight. The contrast of these two ideals can only be done according to Mennel through cities that are metropolitan as they relay a message of the valleys and mountaintops of life.
Conclusion
Ultimately, Maria decides to remain New York City even after seeing the death of a more experienced drug pusher, Lucy. Maria comes to the realization that while all that glitters is not gold, she does indeed have more opportunity to flourish and make a life for herself in the city, rather than returning home to Colombia. She recognizes that Colombia will always be home, but that New York City offers her the globalization she so desires.
Works Cited
Kalow, Nancy. "Visual Storytelling: The Digital Video Documentary." The Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University, 2011. Web. 22 Apr. 2016. <https://documentarystudies.duke.edu/uploads/media_items/visual-storytelling-the-digital-video-documentary.original.pdf>.
Maria Full of Grace. Dir. Joshua Marston. Fine Line Features, 2004. Film.
Mennel, Barbara. Cities and Cinema. Routledge, 2008. Print.
Privitera, D. "Film and the Representation of the Poverty. Touristic Mobilities in Developing countries." Journal of Tourism, Culture and Territorial Development 6.4 (2015): 269-281. Web. 23 Apr. 2016. <http://almatourism.unibo.it/article/view/4966/0>.
Smith, Adam J. "Movie Review: Maria Full of Grace." StoptheDrugWar.org: the Drug Reform Coordination Network (DRCNet) , 16 July 2004. Web. 22 Apr. 2016. <http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle-old/346/maria.shtml>.
