Maria Full of Grace (2004)

This is an okay Columbian movie. 17-year-old Maria (Catalina Moreno) finds out she is pregnant, but she does not want to marry her alcoholic boyfriend and isn’t sure what to do with the baby. She is fired from her job at a flower factory after arguing with her boss about the number of breaks she is allowed, because she feels sick. While traveling to Bogotá, she finds a guy who convinces her to become a drug mule, someone who smuggles drugs into the United States by swallowing them.

The film was done well, but the story is sad and some of the content is disturbing. The title refers to the Hail Mary prayer asking for intercession from the Virgin Mother of Jesus. In the 1985 Supreme Court case United States v. Montoya De Hernandez, the court ruled that border agents can detain a traveler if there is compelling evidence that they are smuggling contraband. Thurgood Marshall was one of only two justices that dissented. Smuggling drugs into the US through the method of swallowing capsules is more common for heroin.