Reaction to Maria Full of Grace

Maria Full of Grace was a dark look into the sadness that  is drug mules. It is very unfortunate that in some countries people need to become drug mules between America and their home countries. Here in America we see drugs as a bad thing and drug smugglers as awful people. This movie shows that the people that run it find people in poverty to do the grunt work for them. They are the ones who get arrested at the border and die when something goes wrong with the drugs.

The amount of poverty in their town was staggering. If you didn't work in the flower factory you didn't have a steady job. The conditions in the factory were bad and they were worked to the bone. You could tell they were working for minimum wage. From the horrible conditions and low pay you can tell there are not any labor laws in place here. But in the United States we have very distinct laws stating what kind of conditions people can work in and what people can get paid. Also our jobs are not based around one factory or natural source. We have a variety of jobs in our cities. Which means that if one company left we would still have jobs left. But in Maria's town if the flower factory left they would crash and everyone would need to move away to find new jobs.

There is also a lack of education in Maria's town. Maria is only 17 and is working to support her family. She should be in school getting an education so she can get a better job but unfortunately that can not happen because she needs money. In the United States it is required by law that everyone under the age of 18 must attend school. I believe that Colombia will need to create a law like this if they want to restart their economy.

 Compared to my life Maria has to make decisions that i could never make at 17. She needed to decide to take a job as a mule to make money for her family. I don't know i would be able to put myself in harms way just to make money. Also in the end she choose to stay in New York for the well being of her baby. I can not imagine staying illeagal in a new country but i would want to make the best decsion for my child's and my futures.

Maria Full of Grace opened my eyes to the struggles people have around the world. I was able to relate to some of the things that Maria chose to do. I enjoyed this movie and would recomed it to people wanting to understand the underground world of drug mules.