K I The Behrend Beacon
Women's Film Series
Series kicks off with powerful 'Maria Full of Grace'
Review by Daniel J. Stasiewski
editor in chief
To simply say that "Maria Full of Grace"
runs the gamut of emotions discounts the
film's beauty. It is tragic and bittersweet.
There are even rare, but poignant moments of
iov. The film, however, is only emotional
when it is taking insightful glances at a people
whose perceived shame is the only pathway to
hope
Catalina Sandino Moreno plays Maria, a 17-
year-old whose family and boss use and abuse
her. She works at a flower plantation, dethorn
ing roses that she'll never be able to buy. Her
money goes to supporting her mother, grand
mother, sister and sister's son, all who live in
the same small apartment.
Maria's life gets more complicated when she
finds out she's pregnant. The father is a boy
who doesn't love her and she doesn't love. At
a community dance she meets the young man
who offers her a chance to get more money
than she could ever imagine and a life for her
child she could never afford. She has to carry
cocaine pellets in her stomach to America.
Once the drugs make it to the States, Maria
gets more than $6,000 to live the life she
wouldn't have dethorning roses in her small
Colombian hometown.
In a twisted (but realistic) way, this drug
clmens work
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ACROSS
1 Grounds
6 Electrical unit
10 Frankenstein
feature
14 Kofi of the U.N.
15 Fencing foil
16 Kind of stick
17 Unbending
18 Take the train
19 Flagon fillers
20 Prayer enders
21 No matter what
happens
23 Moliere's
hypocrite
25 Litigate
26 Luau dish
27 Icons
31 Drying powder
35 Delicacy
37 Composer
Copland
38 Bright light?
39 Treble-pitched
woodwinds
41 Hindu music
form
42 Borge's
instrument
44 Bound along
45 Feed the hogs
46 Unfamiliar
48 Vegas lead-in
50 Hilo garland
51 City near San
Jose
56 Took evasive
action
60 Warning signal
61 Capital on a
fjord
62 New alum
63 City near
Anchorage
64 - The Good
Earth" wife
65 Boot binding
66 Construct
67 Whipped up
68 Beholder
69 Prescribed
amounts
DOWN
1 Jeweler's weight
2 Jungian soul
3 "The Odd
Couple" neatnik
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All rights reiunowl
4 Church honoree Solutions
5 Finishes
6 Certain to pass
an audit
7 Editorialize
8 Mother of Castor
and Pollux
9 Itty-bitty
10 Cursor movers
on keyboards
11 Drink in a can
12 Has a birthday
13 Ascended
22 Arizona city on
the Colorado
24 "Variety" plc
27 Stereotypical
elopers' gear
28 Spoken
29 Brand image
30 Brittle cookie
31 Gratuities
32 Mine entrance
33 Regan's father
34 Part of Panama
38 Bill and
40 Navy
commando
t' 1 r'
I'UDENT LI
trafficking drama is a story about the
American dream. Maria's life is one of
imprisonment, working in what amounts to he
a sweatshop for money that she doesn't get to
keep. To work for a drug cartel is like having
an American employer (the Colombians aren't
buying the drugs). It is her chance at freedom.
Our idea of the American dream will come to
fruition in the final moments of the film, but
until then, Maria is still a victim of circum
stance seeking out a dream in the only way she
can.
Maria is an easy character to understand,
even love, with director Joshua Marston get
ting right in Maria's face. The story is often
told with faces, showing the freshman director
has a way with actors that most directors
working on their tenth or even fifteenth film
never have. Sandino Moreno and Marston
have a working chemistry that is usually only
apparent when both people are on screen.
Here, that chemistry comes across in Sandino
Moreno's often silent, but always powerful
performance.
Sandino Moreno's performance is rare and
emotionally evocative. The harrowing tale
of a 17-year-old mule is tragic enough, but
with her sensitive portrayal, the small
moments captured by Marston's camera push
the boundaries of our own understanding of
the human condition. Sandino Moreno's con-
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43 SSS status
47 Laugh nervously
49 Drenched
51 Tranquility
52 Olds model
53 Bowling alley
assignments
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history, Winch Pulitzer
run?
54 Smidgen
55 Overlooks
58 Go fast
57 "La Bonita"
58 Delighted
59 Go-with
anything color
HBO FILMS
Catalina Sandino Moreno plays 17-year old Maria,a teen who decides to smuggle coccaine pellets in her
stomach to earn money to care for her unborn child in Joshua Marston's "Maria Full of Grace."
fidence, combined with such astute photogra
phy, makes the narrative points come together
seamlessly, so we can easily move past them.
Marston is a former journalist; to say it is
more than a simple story is obvious. What
makes this film so potent is Marston's ability
as a filmmaker. "Maria Full of Grace" is like
peeking into detailed notes and understanding,
not just what, but how this journalist sees. In
Film icon rankings raise eyebrows
By Tamer EI-Ghobashy and Bill
Hutchinson
New York Daily News
(KRT)
NEW YORK - A magazine's list of the "50
Greatest Movie Stars" is getting more jeers
than cheers from film lovers flabbergasted that
Tom Cruise outranks John Wayne and Marlon
Branc).
Premiere magazine's editors spent two years
painstakingly crafting the royal roster that puts
Cruise at No. 3, behind only Marilyn Monroe
and list-topper Cary Grant.
Another head-scratcher was Julia Roberts,
who cracked the top 10 at No. 7, while four
time Oscar winner Katharine Hepburn came in
No. 14.
"Julia Roberts shouldn't even make the list
yet," said Mark Groblewski, 51, a construction
director from Long Island. "You have to put in
a lot of work to get there."
Jessica Faurie, 25, of Manhattan said Cruise
doesn't rank on her personal list of top-shelf
film stars
"There are many actors who are better than
him," said the medical secretary.
But Premiere senior editor Glenn Kenny
said Cruise earned his spot on the list, one
notch above John Wayne, because he's "the
biggest contemporary movie star in the last 20
years." Cruise is so big with the magazine's
editors that they put his picture on the cover of
the April issue.
Roberts, who won an Academy Award in
2000 for her portrayal of crusading environ
mentalist Erin Brockovich, earned her high
spot on the list for being Hollywood's highest
paid go-to actress.
"Another reason why she's so appealing is
because she often identifies - onscreen, any
with the working class," reports
Premiere.
Part of the reasoning for picking actors like
Roberts, Cruise, Will Smith (No. 44), Nicole
Kidman (48), Russell Crowe (49) and Brad
Pitt (50) was their "staying power."
"We weren't going to do this list based on a
whole nostalgic trip," said Kenny. "To just do
a list where you're going to ignore contempo
rary movie stars makes no sense."
Twenty-six of the 50 greatest are dead,
including Ingrid Bergman (5), Greta Garbo
(8), James Stewart (9) and Henry Fonda (10).
Besides Cruise and Roberts, Paul Newman
(6) is the only other living actor to make the
top 10.
Al Pacino and Robert De Niro finished 37th
and 38th, while Denzel Washington was 39th.
"I think that if you get too hung up on rank
ings, you're going to miss the enjoyment of the
list," said Kenny.
Beverly Dawkins, 56, a receptionist from
Queens, thought the list was spot-on.
"I love movies, especially old movies,"
Dawkins said. "I think it's an excellent list.
You have all my favorites but not in the right
order.
rtri
a way, it is more truthful an article on the front
of the New York Times. I wouldn't expect
anything less than a movie this close from per
fect.
t&klib
out of
4 stars
PREMIERE'S LIST OF '5O
GREATEST MOVIE STARS"
Friday, March 25, 2005
"Maria Full of Grace"
will be shown Tuesday at
7:30 p.m. in Reed 117.
Up Next..." How I Killed
My Father."
1. Cary Grant
2. Marilyn Monroe
3. Tom Cruise
4. John Wayne
5. Ingrid Bergman
6. Paul Newman
7. Julia Roberts
8. Greta Garbo
9. James Stewart
10. Henry Fonda
11. James Cagney
12. Grace Kelly
13. Humphrey Bogart
14. Katharine Hepburn
15. Marlon Brando
16. Jack Nicholson
17. Robert Redford
18. Audrey Hepburn
19. Spencer Tracy
20. Sidney Poitier
21. Clark Gable
22. Judy Garland
23. Fred Astaire
24. Doris Day
25. Bette Davis
26. Errol Flynn
27. Gregory Peck
28. Tom Hanks
29. Warren Beatty
30. James Dean
31. Steve McQueen
32. Jane Fonda
33. Shirley Temple
34. Rita Hayworth
35. Harrison Ford
36. Sean Connery
37. Al Pacino
38. Robert De Niro
39. Denzel Washington
40. Elizabeth Taylor
41. Peter Sellers
42. Gary Cooper
43. Clint Eastwood
44. Will Smith
45. Jack Lemmon
46. Meryl Streep
47. Johnny Depp
48. Nicole Kidman
49. Russell Crowe
50. Brad Pitt