Overview
A young woman faces a life-altering decision that could lead to freedom or peril.
Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Brisk
- Intensity
- Strong
- Complexity
- Layered
- Violence
- Moderate
- harrowing
- empathetic
- tense
- serious movie night
- social issue film discussion
What critics said
Critics broadly acclaimed the film for Catalina Sandino Moreno’s compelling breakthrough performance, Joshua Marston’s empathetic direction, and its unsentimental humanization of the drug trade and structural poverty.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
María’s dead-end rose-packing job, unfair supervisor, pregnancy, and recruitment as a drug mule make economic precarity the engine of the plot.
Seventeen-year-old María must make dangerous decisions about work, pregnancy, and survival while still navigating adolescence.
The drug trade is experienced through María’s recruitment, bodily risk, travel, and attempts to escape rather than through organized-crime leadership.
María travels from Bogotá to New York City as a drug mule, connecting Colombian poverty, trafficking, and immigration.
Films like Maria Full of Grace, and why
Rosetta
socially grounded drama about poverty, economic systems, and institutional pressure, with an empathetic young protagonist
Sin Nombre
harrowing immigrant crime drama centered on a vulnerable protagonist navigating exploitative systems
Fish Tank
naturalistic coming-of-age drama portraying economic precarity and moral choices without romanticizing poverty
La Haine
intimate crime drama where ordinary people are trapped by structural inequality and escalating danger
Movie Details
- Director
- Joshua Marston
- Release Date
- 2004-04-02
- Runtime
- 101 min
- Rating
- 7.2 / 10 (444)
Cast
- Catalina Sandino Moreno
- Yenny Paola Vega
- Jhon Álex Toro
- Guilied Lopez
- Patricia Rae
- Virgina Ariza
- Rodrigo Sánchez Borhorquez
- Charles Albert Patiño
- Wilson Guerrero
- Johanna Andrea Mora
Where to watch in United States
- Streaming
- HBO Max Amazon Channel, HBO Max
- Rent
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home
- Buy
- Google Play Movies, YouTube
Streaming options come from TMDB and change over time.
Common questions
- What is Maria Full of Grace about?
- A pregnant Colombian teenager risks becoming a drug mule when poverty and exploitation leave her few safe paths toward independence.
- What is Maria Full of Grace like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of Maria Full of Grace as brisk, its intensity as strong and its storytelling as layered.
- Is Maria Full of Grace violent?
- Somewhat. Ember rates the violence in Maria Full of Grace as moderate.
- What did critics think of Maria Full of Grace?
- Critics broadly acclaimed the film for Catalina Sandino Moreno’s compelling breakthrough performance, Joshua Marston’s empathetic direction, and its unsentimental humanization of the drug trade and structural poverty.
- Which films are like Maria Full of Grace?
- Films with a similar feel include Rosetta, Sin Nombre, Fish Tank, and La Haine.
- How long is Maria Full of Grace?
- Maria Full of Grace runs 101 minutes.
- Where can I watch Maria Full of Grace?
- In United States, Maria Full of Grace streams on HBO Max Amazon Channel, HBO Max.
