Maria Alvarez (Catalina Sandino), a bright, spirited 17-year old, lives with three generations of her family in a cramped house in rural Colombia. Desperate to leave her job stripping thorns from flowers in a rose plantation, Maria accepts a lucrative offer to transport packets of heroin-which she must swallow-to the United States. The ruthless world of international drug trafficking proves to be more than Maria bargained for as she becomes ultimately entangled with both drug cartels and immigration officials. The dramatic thriller builds toward a conclusion so powerful and revealing it could only be based on a thousand true stories.
Directed by
Joshua Marston
Written by
Joshua Marston
Starring
Catalina Sandino Moreno (María Álvarez); Virgina Ariza (Juana); Yenny Paola Vega (Blanca); Rodrigo Sánchez Borhorquez (Supervisor); Charles Albert Patiño (Felipe); Wilson Guerrero (Juan); Johanna Andrea Mora (Diana Álvarez); Fabricio Suarez (Pacho); Mateo Suarez (Pacho); Evangelina Morales (Rosita); Juana Guarderas (Female Pharmacist); John Álex Toro (Franklin (as Jhon Alex Toro)); Jaime Osorio Gómez (Javier (as Jaime Osorio Gomez)); Guilied Lopez (Lucy Díaz); Victor Macias (Pellet Maker). Please contact SFC to add other cast members and characters.
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Straightens the path - a little.
Mark Banks (United Kingdom)
Opinion: Recommended
*Plot-revelations ahead* On-balance I like this film; but only just. First of all the good points – at no point in the film are Maria’s actions condoned, be it the argument Maria gets into with her friend when Maria is accused of being irresponsible regarding being pregnant, or the fate of Lucy being a true warning as to the harsh realities of what Maria is involved in. Even the anger of Lucy’s sister having taken Maria in on trust, and then finding out she had been deceived. However, whilst Maria’s actions aren’t condoned, I didn’t think they were handled with a suitable acknowledgement of the gravity of the risks she was taking – particularly with respect to the baby she was carrying. Towards the end of the film Maria walks into a health clinic, only because she saw it in passing, and is relieved to know her child is healthy, but I didn’t feel this gave due acknowledgement to the real life threatening and selfish behaviour Maria followed in the first place. Additionally, Maria’s boyfriend asks her to marry him, to which Maria says no because he doesn’t love her, which is fair enough, but I felt at the end of the film, for the sake of the child, she could at least have given him some kind of chance to prove himself; I felt she gave up a little too easily on that one. Ultimately I think the film has the potential to dissuade women in a similar situation from following such a dangerous path, but I’m not so sure the alternate path they’re guided onto will bring them much closer to the happier life they’re looking for.
