So far, "Maria Full of Grace" has been an excellent movie.  In particular, I like how the director was able to make the audience sympathize with a drug mule.  On one hand I'm not sure whether I should feel hatred towards Maria because she is smuggling dangerous illegal drugs into my country, but on the other hand, she is a 17 year old pregnant Colombian girl who is so desperate for money that she has to smuggle drugs into the US.  Which brings up another point, she puts herself and her baby in danger by swallowing all of those pellets.

There was a lot of religious symbolism is the movie, the first of it can be noticed without watching the movie at all.  The title "Maria Full of Grace" is a play on the Hail Mary, a Christian prayer for the Virgin Mary.  In just about every scene that was shot in Colombia, some sort of religious symbol could be seen, such as a Cross, or a Crucifix.  Maria is also a metaphor for the Virgin Mary.  She is traveling to a far away land carrying a baby.  The difference is that Maria is not a virgin, we know so because it is implied that her boyfriend knocked her up early on in the movie.

And yes, this guy does look familiar.  If you read the article instead of just looking at the picture, it clearly states that Mr. Tobon plays a character based off of himself in the movie.  Tobon tries his best to help drug mules while staying out of the drug business.  He understands that mules are often desperate people just looking for a break.

I also found this picture which I find disturbing.  I also find it incredible that somebody could swallow so much volume.  You would think that drug mules would take up contest eating and become like Takeru Kobayashi.