Week 13 - Maria, Full of Grace

Maria Full of Grace en espanol, María llena eres de gracia,(“Maria, you are full of grace”) is a Colombian-American film,which won the Independent Spirit Award for Best First Screenplay.

The movie seeks to represent rural life in Colombia, however it was actually filmed in Ecuador. The story is about Maria, (played by Catalina Moreno) who is a young Columbian girl who works under terrible working conditions as a rose thorn puller. With very little income, she is forced to contribute to her family to help support it while others in her family do not seem to contribute.


She is pregnant from a boyfriend she does not seem to care too much for. And it appears that he is the lazy type of person who does as little as possible, just hanging out and hoping for some serendipitous event to come along and make his life easy.

On the other hand, Maria is hard working, stubborn and down to earth person is pretty much direct and forthright with her communications with other people. While it does not serve her in many day to day situations, to me it is an admirable personality trait which in the long term will serve her well. After telling her boyfriend that she is pregnant, he offers to marry her and she declines - which, in my opinion was the right thing to do. From the outset, you can see she has character and backbone which is something not seen in her sister and probably the rest of her extended family. Disgusted with how she is treated, with her life as it is and the direction it is taking, she quits her job and meets a “bad boy” motorcycle young man who introduces her to drug muling (smuggling). Drug muling, whether it is in or out of your body is, to me, something I couldn’t imagine myself doing even if I was desperate. If someone approached me I would probably walk away. In the movie, the details of the operation where drugs are encapsulated and swallowed are portrayed in detail. While you hear about this sort of thing, and realize it goes on, most of us do not realize how well it is refined and quantified into a real business. To me, it is not surprising to see a Caucasian American running the drug operation, exploiting and taking advantage of people who are easy prey because of their low social status. I thought how I would punish someone who smuggled drugs like that. For a first offense, I would require the mule to give up all of their contacts and I would educate them as much as possible. I would look for the underlying cause and try to remedy that situation or at the very least, give them the tools they need to get themselves out of the situation that caused them to be desperate enough to transport drugs. For a multiple offender I would have to sentence them to prison time or deport them and ban them from entering the country. Life in Columbia is not easy. Corruption seems to be present in all of the social layers.

In popular culture Columbia is portrayed poorly, especially in film and fiction. It has been postulated by Colombian organizations and the Colombian government to be mostly negative and has raised concerns that it reinforces, or even induces, societal prejudice and discrimination due to association with narcotics trafficking, terrorism, illegal immigration and other criminal elements,not to mention poverty and welfare. Most Colombian people consider these stereotypes an inaccurate and unfair representation of their people. I thought the ending of the movie was great in that it could show anyone at any age that they have a choice to make in life. This situation is universal in that it could apply to any person in any culture who is up against the wall to survive. The character of Maria has the drive, ambition and fortitude to live her life true to herself and has a high internal locus of control. Although it will most certainly be difficult in the short term, in the long run she will level up from her families seemingly perpetuating social status and do something positive with her life. Unfortunately, her sister will return to the life that she is comfortable with and (seemingly) be stuck in a situation that guarantees a boring and unfulfilled life and lifestyle.

Comments
Personally, the film hits home for me. I’m the oldest of five children, born in New York City, grew up in a poor family sharing a bedroom with 4 other siblings in the North Bronx. I broke away from my family, determined not to live in their lifestyle and make something more of myself.

Like Maria, I was force to work at an early age and told I was good not much else. I was force to pay “rent” while my younger siblings paid nothing. Having said that, I believe that many older ethnic traditions are worthwhile and should be preserved - while many others are rooted in religious guilt, outdated social models and grounded in beliefs that have been disproved or just do not work well.

Oppressed young people, like myself tend to be rebellious... Being rebellious has its ups and downs for sure.

If people were treated equally and not oppressed, life would be better for us all. One day, Friere's concepts will gain a stronger hold in out education system and people will make better choices.

Since I am also learning Spanish also at this time, I think the the movie was an excellent way to experience how conversations are made in a real life family environment I learned a lot about the Columbian culture and was again reminded how much we Americans take for granted. Sources (in addition to the Movie itself)

RODRIGUEZ, P. Estereotipos denacionalidad en estudiantes colombianos y venezolanos. Boletín de la VEPSO,Vol. XV, Nos. 1-3,65-74,1992

WETHERELL, M. «Cross-culturalstudies ofminimal groups: implicationsfor the social identity theory of inter-group relations», 1982.En:

TAJFEL,H.Social identity and intergroup relations.Cambridge University Press, 1982

http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=2210492820&topic=9840

http://www.tiempoviajes.com/noticias/val/354/con-el-corazon-colombia-cambia-su-imagen.html

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2007/feb/02/comment.colombia


Student Comments

Kim said " I believe much of the art at this museum displays struggles with oppression and the art is the way to release those feelings. "

Paul commented that he saw Paulo Freire's theme's having slight influence in the artwork from the museum

Logan noted after revisiting the Museum of Latin American Art he feels he has a better appreciation for the museum and artists of Latin America than i did in week five.

Sara noted that to look at these artworks with a new perspective, I would maybe research more about how the time period influenced the artists work.

Theresa was drawn to this time was the oil painting by Arnold Belkin titled "Exodus".

Kelsy said last time I chose Sergio Velasquez's artwork, Vendedora de ayote, but I decided to look for a new piece where it portrays the movies we watched along with Friere's ideas.

Susan noted that with all the information and movies I watched I learned a lot and see how the history of a culture, beliefs, and customers reflect in the artwork.

Beatriz commented that on this second trip I was able to see how culture, struggle and a countries way of life was displayed and represented through art, sculptures and the various shows put on at this specific location.

Maria specifically looked for meaning in the art like what did the faces colrs and shapes mean...

Robert observed The difference now is that after all of the reading and studying I have completed for this class, my taste in Latin American arts is much more specific