Maria: Full of Grace (R, 2004)

Struggling to help her family survive, Maria Alvarez, a Colombian teen, works under tough conditions in a flower factory. Pushed too far by her supervisor, she quits her job, and very soon after, she meets Franklin, a young man who suggests that she act as a drug mule -- swallowing packets of heroin to smuggle them into the U.S. Although she makes it out safely, things quickly get out of her control, and she finds herself both in a foreign country and in a dangerous predicament.

At times agonizing to watch due to its detailed execution, MARIA FULL OF GRACE is a powerful film, sure to affect almost any viewer. In Maria, actor Catalina Sandino Moreno creates a character with which most people will find it hard not to sympathize, and for such a relentlessly distressing story, her high level of charisma is crucial to keep viewers watching.

This is a gritty -- almost documentary-like -- look at what it's like to be a drug mule. It certainly doesn't glamorize drug culture (one mule is caught by police, another becomes deathly ill after swallowing her balloons, but Maria eventually emerges a stronger person). But the movie doesn't condemn Maria for making tough choices; in the end, she has emerged a stronger person.