History Film / MariaFullOfGrace

Seventeen-year-old Maria works a thankless job at a flower plantation to help support family when she learns she is pregnant. While she looks for a new job, a friend of a friends tells her about a money-making opportunity: all she has to is swallow pellets full of drugs, fly to New Jersey and make sure the pellets get to their intended destination. And avoid getting caught.

* AffablyEvil: Franklin introduces Maria to Don Javier. The latter smiles as he explains what the job will consist of, makes it clear that she must keep things secret, and even gives her money before she accepts the job, no strings attached. But later, he makes it clear that if the drugs don't turn up or any go missing, [[ShameIfSomethingHappened her family will be killed]].
* ArmorPiercingQuestion: After Maria tells her boyfriend Juan that she is pregnant, he proposes they marry and move to his house. But he acts dismissive when she asks him if he loves her. Maria forces him to be honest with himself. They break up shortly after:

** Maria tells her family she is off to the city of Chiquinquirá to work an office job when she is really flying to NYC as a drug mule.
** When questioned by U.S. Customs officers, Maria lies about where she is staying and having saved enough for her plane ticket and the cash she carries. She also denies swallowing drugs. The officers [[spoiler:know she is lying but they let her go; they cannot take X-rays of her to refute her cover story due to her pregnancy]].
* DudeWheresMyRespect: Maria is at the drugstore with her sister and mother, picking up medicine for her baby nephew. Maria is incensed when they demand she fork over the money, since she already contributes most of her wages to help the family.
* DueToTheDead: [[spoiler:Wilson and Carlos retrieve the pellets from Lucy's body and dump her body. After Maria helps identify a body found by the police, she donates half of her earnings so that Lucy can be sent back to Colombia instead of being buried in an unmarked grave in New Jersey]].
* {{Foreshadowing}}: Maria befriends Lucy, who has been a drug mule before. Lucy has Maria prepare for swallowing the drug pellets by practicing with whole grapes. She also warns Maria to dress nicely but nothing flashy, to avoid eating for 24 hours before the trip, and to make sure the pellets are carefully wrapped, because if one ruptures while inside Maria, she will die. [[spoiler:This is exactly what happens to Lucy herself later on.]]
* JustifiedCriminal: Maria and Blanca jump at the chance of making $5000 USD for going off as drug mules:

* MeanBoss: Maria is dealing with morning sickness. When she asks the supervisor for another bathroom break, he just harangues her about how far behind she is. When she throws up on her flowers, instead of asking if she is OK, he just makes her rinse them off even though they are ruined, then sends her back to work, telling her [[KickTheDog he will be deducting the cost from her paycheck]].

** When Maria gets stopped by the Customs officer at the airport.
** Maria wakes up in the middle of the night and hears the dealers trying to leave quietly [[spoiler:while carrying Lucy. When Maria goes to the bathroom and sees the blood-spattered tub, she realizes the dealers cut Lucy open to retrieve the pellets still inside her and are somewhere dumping the body]].
* TheResenter: Maria is only 17 but she already works to help support the family. She does not appreciate being lectured on responsibility by her StrugglingSingleMother sister, who is unemployed. As Maria points out, her sister's baby is ''her'' responsibility, not Maria's.
* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: Maria realizes that [[spoiler:the dealers cut Lucy open to retrieve the pellets still inside of her and will return after they dump the body]]. In a panic, she immediately wakes up Blanca and both of them get the hell out.

* WhamLine: "I don't feel well." [[spoiler:Lucy to Maria during the flight.]]
* WhamShot: [[spoiler: Maria enters the hotel room bathroom and finds the bathtub covered in Lucy's blood.]]

* UnusualEuphemism: Maria is offered a one-time gig as a drug mule. The way the front man describes the situation, she is going to take a trip to New Jersey with a bunch of "film rolls", be picked up and taken to a safe location where "the films will be developed" i.e. they will wait out for her to pass the heroin-filled pellets she swallowed. ''All 62 of them.''

** Maria wakes up in the middle and f the night and hears the dealers trying to leave quietly. [[spoiler: She goes to the bathroom and seeing the blood-spattered tub, she realizes the dealers cut Lucy open to retrieve the pellets still inside her and are somewhere dumping the body]].

* RageQuit: It occurs offscreen, but Maria quits her job when her boss denies her a bathroom break and she ends up vomiting all over her workstation. It does not help that he does not show concern for her welfare.

** Maria tells her family she is off to the city of Chiquinquirá!to work an office job when she is really flying to NYC as a drug mule.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: Maria befriends Lucy, who has been a drug mule before. Lucy has Maria prepare for swallowing the drug pellets by practicing with grapes whole. She also warns Maria to dress nicely but nothing flashy, to avoid eating for 24 hours before the trip, and to make sure the pellets are carefully wrapped, because if one ruptures while inside Maria, she will die. [[spoiler:This is exactly what happens to Lucy herself later on.]]
* KilledOffscreen:[[spoiler:Lucy, after one of the pellets inside her ruptures and she [=ODS=]. The dealers end up cutting her open to retrieve the remaining pellets]].
* MeanBoss: Maria is dealing with morning sickness. When she asks the supervisor for another bathroom break, he just harangues her about how far behind she is. When she throws up on her flowers, instead of asking if she is OK, he just makes her rinse them off even though they are ruined, then sends her back to work, telling her he will be deducting the cost from her paycheck.

-->'''Don Javier''': One more thing... If any of what you are carrying gets lost along the way or doesn't show up, we'll go and have a little conversation with your grandmother, your sister, and [[WouldHurtAChild little Pachito]]. We know exactly how much each one of those 62 pellets weighs. Understood?

* AffablyEvil: Franklin introduces Maria to Don Javier. The latter smiles as he explains what the job will consist of, makes it clear that she must keep things secret, and even gives her money before she accepts the job, no strings attached. But later, he makes it clear that if she runs off with the money, her family will be killed.

-->'''Don Javier''': One more thing... If any of what you are carrying gets lost along the way or doesn't show up, we'll go and have a little conversation with your grandmother, your sister, and little Pachito. We know exactly how much each one of those 62 pellets weighs. Understood?

* BlatantLies: Maria is questioned at Customs. She swears up and down that she did not swallow any drugs. The officers have trouble believing her [[spoiler:but they let her go; they cannot take X-rays of her to refute her cover story due to her pregnancy]].
* DudeWheresMyRespect: Maria is at the drugstore with her sister and mother, picking up medicine for her baby nephew. Maria is incensed when they demand she fork over the money, since she already hands over her income to help the family.

** Maria, when she goes to the bathroom and sees [[spoiler:the blood-spattered tub. She realizes the dealers cut Lucy open to retrieve the pellets still inside her and are somewhere dumping the body]].

* ShameIfSomethingHappened: Don Javier is a smiling middle-aged man with a cane who does not look like he is involved in drug trafficking. But he makes it clear to Maria that if any of the pellets go missing, he and his people will go to her home and have a "little chat" with her mom, her sister, and her nephew Pachito.
* UnusualEuphemism: Maria is offered a one-time gig as a drug mule. The way the front man describes the situation, she is going to take a trip to New Jersey with a bunch of "film rolls", be picked up and taken to a safe location where "the films will be developed" i.e. they will wait out for her to pass the heroin-filled pellets she swallowed. ''All 86 of them.''

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