The film opens panning across the Columbian countryside at dawn, a beautiful vista, which gradually narrows into focus on Maria’s small town and the flower factory where she works, dethorning roses for commercial use elsewhere. There is kind of sweatshop feel to the place as the workers scramble to keep up with the pace while supervisors berate them. Maria has the look of a young woman who seems to know that there is something better out there for her and feels trapped in her job. The same is true outside of work, with her boyfriend Juan, about whom she feels indifferent. This comes to a head when Maria realizes that she’s pregnant and doesn’t want to marry Juan because she doesn’t love him, although he has made a half-hearted offer. At the same time, following an altercation with her abusive boss, she quits her job.

Maria, played by Catalina Sandino Moreno, has an innocent angelic appearance but to look deeper into her eyes is to see an independent young woman who is determined to break out of her situation and survive, using her wits and common sense. Meeting a young man, Franklin (John Alex Toro) at a dance, she is befriended by him and he gives her a ride to Bogota. Ultimately, he leads her to the world of drug smuggling and the dubious opportunity to mule them for more money than she’s seen at one time. One interesting thing to note here is that unlike other films in this genre, she is never, at any time forced into this, which adds to the moral complication. She is surprised to find her best friend, the ditzy Blanca (Yenny Paola Vega), has followed her to Bogota to do the same thing while at the same time, she is befriended by an older, more sophisticated girl, Lucy (Giulied Lopez), who has done this before and takes her under her wing.

At this point, things start accelerating – the girls have to swallow dozens of packets of heroin, which is the method of transport. The inherent risk in this is all too obvious – if just one packet breaks internally, then overdose is a surety. The flight to the U.S. is one of the most tension filled scenes on film that I’ve seen, made all the more so by its realism and not relying on effects to manipulate the audience. The girls try to get through customs – Maria’s cover story is not believed by the savvy customs agents and she comes agonizingly close to having to submit to an x-ray, saved by the fact that she is pregnant. They are met by their contacts and taken to a sleazy hotel, where they have to wait for the heroin packets to make their way through their systems. Something goes wrong - one of the packets carried by Lucy breaks in her and she goes into an overdose. When Maria wakes from a doze in time to see Lucy’s body being carried out and notices blood all over the room, she is left with no doubt as to what happened and bolts, with Blanca in tow. Ultimately, Maria makes contact with Lucy’s sister Carla (Patricia Rae) and is taken in by her until Carla realizes what has happened to Lucy.

Although the particular act of drug smuggling may be reprehensible to some, considering the end results, the movie is never moralistic about it, letting the viewer draw his or her own conclusion. Instead, Maria is portrayed as a young woman, who simply does what she feels she has to, to survive, despite the circumstances that she finds herself in. The movie has a gritty real life feel to it from showing the girls training to swallow the packets by practicing with grapes to depiction of the drug lords themselves, played like ordinary people as opposed to the usual cardboard cut-out evil stereotype. In fact, everyone in this film is portrayed in an ordinary way, which is one of its strengths, lending the movie a credibility that can’t be faked. It also shows how disposable life is in this environment when we see that the drug lords send several women at a time, the rationale being that if one gets stopped, the rest will have an easier time getting through. The casual way in which Lucy’s body is opened up (not shown but implied) to retrieve the packets and then disposed of, is a chilling reminder of life’s cheapness here.

Joshua Marston, a first time director, has made wonderful authentic film that never tries to engage the audience with obvious effects or ploys but simply relies on the story it tells and the unpretentious cast of actors that populate it. Catalina Sandino Moreno is a fine young actress who effortlessly balances a youthful vulnerability with a survivor’s strength and mother wit while the supporting cast is equally strong and real. Maria is never apologetic about her decision and the course that she has chosen and seems prepared to pay whatever price that demands but she balances the tawdry nature of what she’s done with a compassion and caring for those around her. The film, likewise, displays a humanity at all times and never slips into melodrama or artificial emotion.