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After quitting her job as a laborer and discovering she’s pregnant, the title character in Joshua Marston’s first feature is faced with a future of little money and fewer options, and when she becomes a drug mule, it seems almost accidental yet perfectly natural. She swallows dozens of heroin-filled capsules and boards a plane from Colombia to New York. Once in America, everything goes wrong, but María, who possesses a feisty nature and intelligence, begins to carve out a place for herself. In the sequence in which she and three other mules — all young women from small rural towns — swallow the drugs, board a plane, and negotiate customs — Marston’s attention to detail creates a dread-filled atmosphere that’s both realistic and nightmarish, but it’s Colombian actress Catalina Sandino Moreno who makes this harsh story uplifting instead of simply pathetic. (101 minutes)
BY BROOKE HOLGERSON
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