Cataleya

Synopsis of Colombiana Cataleya is the young child of Fabio, a Colombian man employed by the ruthless drug baron Don Luis. When Fabio resolves to give his daughter a better life by getting out, Don Luis worries that Fabio will murder him. Therefore, he attacks early by sending Marco his second in command to murder Fabio and his family. Fabio gives Cataleya info on Don Luis in a small disk, together with the address of her uncle Emilio in Chicago, expressing the need for her to get to her uncle any way possible. Her father gives her a necklace also, which is in the shape of the Cattleya orchid after which she was named after. Marco murders Fabio and his wife while their child watches, and when he is about to kill Cataleya, she stabs him and

vows to him she will kill Don Luis one day before escaping. She reaches the US Embassy and then escapes their custody and safely makes her way to her uncle, Emilio.

Once she meets Emilio, she tells him to teach her to be an assassin. The next scene is fifteen years later, Cataleya has grown and is now one of the best assassins on the continent. When she kills either a murderer, thief, or villain, she has a signature on them of a Cattleya orchid, to give a message to Don Luis. She gets contacts from her uncle as an assassin, like she goes undercover in a police precinct and with so much skill and ability kills a prisoner, gangster named Genarro Rizzo, where she leaves her signature. The FBI, are increasingly weary of the uncountable murders by Cataleya and decide to tell the public about the Colombian Orchid Killer. It is thanks to work done by Special Agent James Ross who makes the connection. It lets Don Luis know of the killings and her. He instructs Marco and other goons to look for Cataleya before she locates him. Emilio is furious when he learns Cataleya has been killing with a signature since she has been endangering her relatives. She gets a new contract to kill William "Willy" Woodard, a millionaire with a Ponzi scheme which as usual she does without any

hitch. Afterward, she visits her lover Danny Delany who takes a picture of her which thanks to Danny’s friend is put in the police database leading to her identity as the Cataleya assassin to be discovered. Her uncle furious with her fires her. Cataleya finds her uncle and grandmother killed and tortured. She then goes to the FBI, finds out the location of Don Luis and plans an attack on his mansion. She attacks the premises, kills Marco after a fierce fight.

Don Luis however escapes but is mauled to death by dogs on Cataleya’s command. She has finally achieved her goal of avenging her parents’ murder. Danny is arrested but cannot face any charges for any crime, he gets a call from Cataleya who tells him her real name, and he tells her he loves her. The movie ends with Cataleya boarding a bus whose destination we do not know. Why did you choose this film? I wanted this movie, Colombiana, because it has a strong female lead which provides a good role model to women in the society. It is an excellent film that shows how strong Cataleya was to go through a lot as a child but she still came out with a firm resolve to live on even after witnessing her parents being murdered. She grows up to be an intelligent lady and talented as those are skills required in an assassin. This film shows us that women can perform tasks that we think of only as strong roles. It is one of the best action movies with a female lead. It is so because the female lead has a significant role and focusing on showing Cataleya’s ability and prowess, unlike other films which glorify the male leads while the ladies play minor

roles. Cataleya uses anything at her disposal to achieve her goal of avenging the murder of her parents. It teaches us that when we set goals, we should always strive to reach them. Analysis of the female lead character. Cataleya was very shy when she was little and was probably coached. From an early age, she experienced trauma by witnessing the murder of her parents. She is intelligent enough to swallow the thing her father gave her which was a chip that Don Luis was searching for. She does not fall for Marco’s manipulation and wisely stabs him and makes her escape. On arrival in Chicago and delivers what she was instructed to do to the US embassy thus earning her a stay in the US. She escapes their custody and makes her way to her uncle again showing her intelligence. She tells her uncle Emilio that she wants to be an assassin, which made him angry and astonishes him. She takes the task seriously and goes to school and trains thus ends up as a resourceful and intelligent killer. With her sharp mind, she outwitted the FBI and also beating Luis's men and himself on her own. She is relatively an expert in close combat and also a great markswoman. With her ability in marksmanship, she is also able to handle firearms. As a contract killer, she was quite sneaky and calculating. With well-planned strategies, she outfoxed a whole swat squad and some correctional officers. Apart from assassinating, she had a romantic life, seen with Danny Delanay and also she values family as seen with her relationship with Emilio and Mama. She outwitted Special Agent Ross; the man tracked her. She leaves a signature behind with her kills a Cattleya orchid drawing. In the scene where Don Luis and his men are waiting for Cataleya’s arrival they are making plans to take her down, they underestimate her. I think if Cataleya were on the scene she would have made better preparations to ambush