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Columbiana Movie Review Summary

Actors: Zoe Saldana, Michael Vartan, Cliff Curtis, Lennie James, Callum Blue and Jordi Mollà

Detailed plot synopsis reviews of Columbiana


This is the story of a 9-year-old girl who witnesses her parents' murders and dedicates the rest of her life to avenge their deaths by killing those responsible for the murders. Cataleya is a 9-year-old girl who lives in Bogota with her parents. Her father Fabio used to work with a drug lord named Don Luis but Fabio told Don Luis he wanted to quit this drug smuggling lifestyle. As Fabio has incriminating information on Don Luis, he orders Fabio's murder. Fabio, anticipating his imminent death and retaliation, gives the information to his daughter along with her uncle's address in Chicago; should something happen to him, she should go there. He also tells her to get ready and start packing. Fabio tells
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Cateleya to sit at the kitchen table and stay there while he goes to talk to Don Luis' hit men who showed up. Fabio and his wife are gunned down, which Cataleya hears, and the hit men go see Catalya and try to get the information her father gave her. She initially refuses to speak, then she stabs one of the men in the hand and tells him the information is to kill Don Luis, and she runs away - escaping through the window and running in the streets, and manages to get to the Embassy, then to Chicago. She then asks her uncle to train her as an assassin as this is what she wants to do with her life from now on. He asks her whether she is sure as she should be in school like kids her age, but she doesn't want to change her mind.

Fast forward 15 years later, Cateleya is a trained assassin and her uncle tells her who she has to kill next, while giving her money to get by. She tricks the police into arresting her to get into prison - pretending to be an intoxicated prostitute - where she kills one of Don Luis' people, then is released the next day. The police and the FBI search for the killer but cannot find him or her and so they start gathering evidence and follow trails. One piece of evidence is a drawing of a flower - Cattleya flower, i.e., an orchid - that she draws on her victims' chests, and there are almost two dozens (victims) of them. Her uncle eventually reads about the ongoing case in the papers, including the mention of the flower. He tells Cataleya she has been stupid and to stop what she is doing. She refuses as she says she is getting closer to her ultimate target. Throughout the movie, Cateleya sporadically goes to the apartment of her lover Danny, unexpectedly, to sleep with him as she feels alone at times, but still refuses to tell him more about who she is, about her past, and her real name. He falls in love with her but she cannot open up. One day, Danny takes a picture of Cateleya while she is asleep as he thinks she is so beautiful.

Later on, Cateleya's uncle tells her that she either stops pursuing the killers or she no longer has a family. She goes to church to see her uncle and aunt for one last time, then leaves. Later on, Danny goes to the restaurant with a friend, Ryan, and he starts telling her about this amazing girl he just met, and he shows him the picture. While Ryan is away from the table for a few minutes, Ryan sends the picture to his sister-in-law who works at the police station and asks her to do a background check as he doesn't want his friend to get hurt as he is in love. The sister-in-law does a background check and Cataleya's picture is recognized by the system as the woman who had been arrested the night the man was killed in prison, before being released the next day, and they hadn't been able to track her since. The FBI and the police goes to Cateleya's apartment right after she gets home from the church and, as she has cameras all over the place, she sees they are on their way up. She is on the phone with Danny who just tells her he took a picture of her while she was asleep and showed the picture to his friend. She hangs up and start running away, taking guns with her. She escapes and goes to her uncle's home to see he has been killed by Don Luis's men, along with her aunt. She cries and decides to find the murderers once and for all. She breaks into the FBI agent's home, who has been in charge of her case, and blackmails him into giving her information with respect to Don Luis' location; threatening him to kill members of his family. He gives her what she wants, then she finds Don Luis' floor plans of his home so that she can get in unnoticed and kill him. After numerous stabbings and fights at gunpoint, she manages to kill Don Luis' men one by one, except Don Luis. She knows he has escaped in a truck and calls him on his cell phone. Don Luis tells her she will never kill him and that he will come back to kill her. Don Luis doesn't know there are two very hungry dogs at the back of the truck and Cateleya tells the dogs, through the phone, to “Eat”. Don Luis dies, eaten by the dogs. The last scene takes place at a bus station, Catelya is leaving town. She calls Danny, who is at the police station for an interrogation about her, and Danny asks her what her real name is and she says Cateleya. He then tells her he loves her and before she can respond she hangs up the phone, as the police officers have noticed Danny was on the phone. Danny is released as there are no charges held against him and Cataleya gets on the bus.
Best part of story, including ending: Amazing movie and story, very emotional as this is the story of a little girl who lost her parents and who wanted to be loved. She spent the rest of her life scarred and broken.

Best scene in story: When Cataleya breaks into the FBI agent's home and threatens to kill members of his family. She looks at a picture of his family and tells him he has a beautiful family, then tells him her parents were killed in front of her, and cries. This was a moment of understanding for the FBI agent - who now understood her motives, and the viewers - who understood what someone who has nothing to lose is willing to do.

Opinion about the main character: Like: She was broken and had lost hope but remained determined to avenge her parents' deaths, at all costs; in their memory. She was very weak and strong at the same time.

The review of this Movie prepared by Mary G. a Level 4 Yellow-Headed Blackbird scholar

Script Analysis of Columbiana

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Plot & Themes

Composition of Book Actual chase scenes or violence 70%Planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives 10%Feelings, relationships, character bio/development 20% Time/Era of Movie:    -   present 2000+ Crime & Police Story?    -   Yes Crime story:    -   vigilante hunting down criminal(s) Criminal enemy is...    -   drug dealers

Main Character

Identity:    -   Female Profession/status:    -   killer Age:    -   20's-30's Ethnicity/Nationality    -   Hispanic/Latinic

Setting

United States    -   Yes The Americas (not US):    -   Yes The Americas:    -   South

Writing Style

Accounts of torture and death?    -   gory visuals of deaths Kind of violence:    -   guns Unusual forms of death    -   perforation--bullets Any profanity?    -   Occasional swearing

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