User Reviews

I never read the novel, but I can only assume that it has to be much better than the movie, a film that missed the mark in the way that so many other films dealing with magic/supernatural/unknown have failed. One that comes to mind is the "House of Spirits" with Meryl Street and Glenn Close. There is a case that had the perfect cast, and it failed to hit the target. This movie has also two wonderful leads, and Alfred Molina doing a narration, but it just never comes together. One can admire the extreme care the production has gone through to recreate an era, with its accurate costume and sets, and somehow the script appears to have all the lines in the right place, but the movie just feels quite pedestrian, like a rehearsal, and a bad one...

The story deals with the eternal dilemma of how people perceive that which can't be understood, the different, the strange, even when this helps some of the people that deny it later. We hear words like "evil", "revenge", "witchcraft" being thrown around, and we start associating this with the witch hunting that has terrorized the female population for thousands of years. Add to that a touch of racism and class differences.

It is hard to evaluate an effort of this kind, and it begs to remade again, preferably with a director better suited to this kind of material. There are very few people like Steven Spielberg, who can handle just about any type of material. I kept thinking back to Sergio Leone who could make children's relationships come alive in "Once Upon a Time in America", and even Richard Donner could get some emotions across in his movies, but this one feels like someone left the camera rolling and just whatever.

"Bless the Ultima" must be more than what is projected here. Can someone explain what happened?

I'm a huge fan of stories with magical realism in them. One of my favorite novels I've ever read is '100 Years of Solitude', which exudes magical realism from start to finish. I think I am so fascinated by it, because I like to think it exists. That there is some magic in this world, no matter how vague or small it might be, helping us move forward as a society and as humans. When I heard that Rudolfo Anaya's controversial novel of the same name was being adapted to a film, I was instantly intrigued. 'Bless Me, UItima' is a wonderful coming-of-age film with fine filmmaking and at times was quite magical.

This story takes place towards the tail-end of World War II in rural New Mexico and focuses on a loving Hispanic family. We see the world through the eyes of Antonio Marez, a young boy living on his family's farm who is looking for guidance in the world. When a dear family friend and healer moves in by the name of Ultima, young Antonio is entranced by her and the two form a connection to which Ultima teaches Antonio how to respect and love nature and the Earth in order to lead a good life.

Ultima herself knows she doesn't have that much time in the world, so she does everything she can to teach Antonio her knowledge and other-worldly skills. You see, Ultima is viewed by others as a witch who delivers curses upon others. She is accused of cursing her enemies and healing the near-death back to health. The novel goes much deeper into this paranormal and witchcraft like aspect, however this film adaptation directed by Carl Franklin focuses more on the young Antonio going through his boyhood and discovering the light and dark sides of life.

Antonio goes to a strict Catholic school where kids are punished more often that actually getting an education and befriends a kid who does not believe in God. He is picked on in school for being different, intelligent, and having a "witch" living with him. Meanwhile, Tenorio, one of the prominent men in the rural New Mexico town's daughter passes away, to which he blames Ultima for cursing her. This leads him to go on a blind rage and recruit others with literal pitchforks and torches to go on a witch hunt.

On the other hand, the young Antonio sees one of his older brothers who is finally home from the war constantly hanging out at the local brothel and is constantly tormented by Tenorio who wants to kill Ultima and the family she lives with, including Antonio. Now this might seem like an adult movie at times, buy Franklin used a young and light touch while telling this story and is more a coming-of-age film than a paranormal thriller about witchcraft.

Franklin shows us the beautiful landscapes of rural New Mexico, where it was actually filmed throughout the movie, and we get a glimpse of just how beautiful the world is for Antonio, despite the horrific things that are going on around him. It was as if Franklin was conveying that nature and the Earth will always bring us peace. It was beautifully shot. The ensemble cast is decent as well with Benito Martinez being the most known out of the actors, who he plays Antonio's father. Miriam Colon plays Ultima with grace and comes across like a kind and warm grandmother with a very haunting side. She can scare you, then in a flash make you fall in love with her. And Luke Ganalon plays the young Antonio who does a decent job playing the straight and narrow and I'm sure with time will come into his own.

'Bless Me, Ultima' was an endearing film full of wonder, magic, and family. It had a wonderful message, a great cast, and despite the big possibility it not being a giant blockbuster at the box office, I have a feeling that families across the globe will gravitate towards this light-hearted film to show their kids.

Rudolfo Anaya's novel, Bless Me, Ultima, incorporated many interpretative scene left to the minds of the readers. The film version of the book, directed by Carl Franklin, attempted to bring the scenes to life, and portray Anaya's visions of the book. Throughout his film, Franklin utilized diegetic and non-diegetic sounds, in addition to camera placements to represent certain emotions or certain character-related symbols. The cogitated uses of sound are extraordinary, and work wonders for the film, as he combines non-diegetic sounds with diegetic sounds to give a deeper meaning. All non-diegetic sounds, such as the soundtrack, are gently placed into the film, and are gradual in volume and emotion. The diegetic sounds are placed smoothly in the background to emphasize aspects, namely the symbol of the river and the land. As we follow Antonio, the main character, on his coming-of-age journey, we are delightfully overcome with the sense of adventure due to the sounds played. In addition to the sounds, Franklin uses wonderfully placed camera angles that place the viewer in with the characters, and affect us as emotionally as it does with the protagonists. Many times through the film, we are looking from over Antonio's shoulder, looking up at someone. This is significant with the coming-of-age aspect to the film, and even more so towards the end when Antonio finds himself. He becomes something more to everyone around him, and his new found strength places his shots above others.

While this film had noteworthy scenes, I was a bit surprised at it's disobedience toward the novel. I feel there were many important scenes in the book that were significant to Antonio's struggles, as well as his aging process. Things like the Golden Carp were too big to leave out it seemed, though Franklin found a way. Otherwise, the film was enjoyable.

--Jared M--

The novel, which has become a staple of high-school lesson plans and thus qualifies as Great Literature, deserves all the plaudits that have been heaped upon it. I read the work for the first time a few years ago and found it very moving. Like To Kill a Mockingbird (to which it has often been compared), its deceptively simple coming-of-age tale is the prism through which we are allowed a view of a larger picture: the merging of a mystically-inclined Native American way of life and more establishmentarian (and yet, in its way, even more superstitious) Catholic Hispanic culture, as well as the impact encroaching modernity has on both. Moreover, the story explored, through the relationship between young Antonio and the wise old curandera Ultima, the meaning of the connections human beings have with one another and the natural world of which they are a part, all beautifully weaved together by the skill of the author Rudolfo Anaya. (I will also add that, when I read the novel, its simple but powerful evocation of a distant time and place, the love between a growing and inquisitive boy and the old woman who effectively serves as his grandmother, and the neo-pagan lessons she imparts all helped me through a tough time, which is certainly one of the blessings of great writing.) So one can imagine my excitement when it was announced a film version was finally in the works and now, after having seen the movie, one may also imagine my disappointment over a work that is barely a shadow of the book. While decidedly earnest and also largely faithful to the source material, the film has none of the magical beauty of the novel. Indeed, the whole enterprise seems misbegotten. I suspect Carl Franklin, a talented director who has made such fine films as One False Move and Devil in a Blue Dress, was the wrong choice for this project. The direction is humdrum and the script he penned is weak, beginning with the idea of having the great Al Molina narrate the story as an adult Antonio. While it's always good to see a film make liberal use of Hispanic actors, every role, other than Miriam Colon as Ultima, seems miscast. The whole movie, for lack of a better description, just lays there, possesses little if any of the wonder over life and love and nature that Anaya made come alive on the page.

In his review, the late Roger Ebert generally praised this film, stating that the movie took its time and did not, as so many other films in this day and age often do, completely dispense with subtlety and over explain everything. While I appreciate his point, I think a film can sometimes be too spare and thus too obscure. It was a mistake, I think, to focus so much on young Antonio and his sometimes confused child's eye view of the world. It would have been enlightening, particularly for those who haven't read the novel, to see more of Ultima and her "magic," her pagan-infused Catholic teachings.

A completely re-written script would have well served this project and the fuller and more subtly complex film that might have resulted would have come closer to capturing what the author conveyed. I missed seeing that golden fish in the river.

Carl Franklin uses the sounds of nature as well as changes in the soundtrack to emphasize the theme of the film, the connection between the characters and Earth. Franklin's use of long shots also portray those connections stronger, like when Tenorio had murdered Narciso and left him under the juniper tree in the rain. The perspective allows the audience to view the man's being of one with the earth, with Antonio's house in the background, and the weather portraying the mood. On the other hand, when Antonio meets with Ultima, he feels his connection with her and the Earth, and the sun is faded into in the shot, so while the sun encourages the hope Antonio has in God in doing right, bad weather usually signifies the opposite. Franklin uses this subtle effect to form the conflict Antonio faces inside. The music ties in with that effect, where an uplifting soundtrack that is original to the culture of the characters plays when hope is in sight, and the soundtrack is drowned out by diegetic sounds used like when Antonio follows Narciso in his struggle to warn Ultima. Carl Franklin uses many methods to pursue the theme of his film, but what brings the film down for me is the quality of the acting. The film deserved more power in the effect the characters could bring, and the quality of the acting lower that effect. A stronger connection to the actual film from the film could have enhanced the message the director wanted to send, but overall, the film did its part in representing the culture of the setting and the connections shared between the characters, the earth, and religion.

After reading the novel by Rudolfo Anaya, I watched the movie and the first thing i noticed was Franklin's use of added music on the soundtrack. He uses a lot of natural sounds like crickets, birds, and flowing water along with an erie tribal music that seems to be constantly building up to something. Franklin commonly showed the landscapes of the New Mexico filming location by using extreme long shots and tracking shots with the sounds to really make the nature come alive as it does in the story with Ultima. Collectively all the diegetic sounds, nondiegetic sounds, and landscape shots combine to convey the nature theme so heavily embedded in the book. Franklin did a good job showing the power held by the moon and sun in the story by placing images of them in fade in/out transitions during important interactions between characters. For example we see the sun making the transition between a close up of Ultima's face to Antonio's in the moment where they first meet. As far as the acting I found a lot of the lines feeling unnatural and forced. Although a lot of the scenes involved children making it harder to get great acting I thought overall the acting in this film was poor. Was it effective? The main conflict in the book is Antonio's inner struggle but unfortunately the movie misses a few key features that causes this theme to get left out. For starters the film is narrated by Antonio but the issue is his voice is that of a grown mans. During the book he is only seven and is confused about all the new information he's getting which gives us that sense of struggle with identity. But with a grown up's voice it sounds like he already has everything figured out so we lose that aspect. They should have gotten a child for the voice over. Antonio was also struggling with the need for everlasting innocence and we saw some of that desire being crushed once he finds out his brother is at Rosie's. In the book this causes Antonio to question the world and himself but in the movie is reaction and thoughts are glossed over. Movies can't do everything the book does and overall I think the Franklin and his team did a good job apart from subpar acting and missing a few themes.

Mr.Sieck's Novels into Film

The 2013 Film Bless Me Ultima, Directed by Carl Franklin and based on the novel written by Rudolfo Anaya, shares great messages of God and family. The main character Antonio struggles with his faith and the life his family has planned out for him, at the age of 7. Franklin's use of reaction shots perfectly portray the chaos that occurs in the film, allowing the viewers to feel for the characters. We feel as if we are in the film with them, whether it is when Antonio is about to get shot or when Florence hits his head and drowns in the lake. The camera quickly cuts to shots of the boys' faces showing their shock and fear. Antonio's life being predetermined by his parents and the arrival of Ultima makes it harder for him to decide what he wants to be when he is older. He is constantly faced with answering the question: "Do you want to be a priest or a farmer?" Ultimas presence exposes Antonio's doubts in God. God had failed to save Florence's parents and failed to save Narciso from dying. These events only decrease his faith in God.

Franklin makes good use out of natural sounds from nature, that can be classified as diegetic sound since the viewers hear what the character hears. The sound plays a large part in the film and is absolutely beautiful. We hear what Antonio hears, such as the rushing of water or the loud pounding of feet on the bridge when people race the Vitamin Kid. Overall, the film is horrible compared to the novel. It lacks a sense of emotion and the relationship between Ultima and Antonio in the book is far more close than how they are portrayed in Franklin's film. The film's music and reaction shots make the film intriguing but when compared to the novel, it failed to keep the attention of the viewers.

When I read Rodolfo Anaya's book, Bless Me, Ultima, I was enthralled by seeing so many of my ancestors' names, and especially, by the barrio called Puerto De Luna, New Mexico, where my grandfather was born. Actually, my relatives are all from the area seen in the movie. Even though the book is fiction, I couldn't help feeling that I was actually seeing the area as my grandparents and their parents saw it. (I feel that way with almost every book Anaya has written...) Ultima's relationship with little Antonio is magical and full of love; she patiently taught him about life, nature, and relationships while she lived with him and his family.

He tells of his schooldays, skipping a grade, his catechism lessons at church and about being taunted by his friends who call him "the priest" because he learned the religious lessons taught by the priest who didn't always demonstrate love and understanding to some of his students; they even forced him to listen to them "confessing" their sins.

Toward the end of the movie, his tearful request to be blessed by her before burying some of her personal objects brought tears to my eyes, as well.

Bless Me,Ultima is very true to the novel, so it's easy to "lose yourself" in the story. My Anglo husband seemed to enjoy it as much as I did, and I'm sure that everyone who sees it will, also.

A simple and beautiful imaged coming-of-age story. The film is based on a novel by Rudolfo Anaya, an American author and one of the founders of modern Chicano literature. Antonio tells the story of him growing up in New Mexico under the watchful eye of Ultima, a curandera or healer. Ultima has knowledge about healing herbs. Most people see her as a person who possesses supernatural powers and cures diseases caused by evil spirits. Those diseases are believed to be a punishment from God. Others see Ultima as a kind of witch ( Bruja ) who can transform into an owl. Antonio accompanies her while she collects medicinal herbs. He visits with her the sick and begins to understand the connectedness of nature with the process of healing even though he never gets an explicit scientific explanation about the healingproces, how she casts spells onto witches or why she sometimes decides not to intervene.

Don't expect a flashy entertaining and action-packed movie. Despite the film proceeds in a sluggish manner while creating an image of this community in Guadalupe, the film was able to captivate me. I've never read the novel. So I can't judge whether the film follows the book to a great extent or not. The main part of the film shows the relationship between Ultima and Antonio. You notice immediately that there is a very strong link between those two from the first moment they have met. The fragments where Ultima passes her knowledge of medicinal plants and herbs to Antonio, are beautiful and very emotionally. The moment Ultima is on her way to heal an uncle of Antonio is actually a key moment. There is a curse on him by the daughter of a local resident named Tenorio Trementina. Eventually, Antonio faces a kind of exorcism, followed by the application of a kind of voodoo ritual.

The ongoing theme is Antonio's Christian faith that is developing, while being confronted with primitive rituals . The moment he celebrates ​​his First Holy Communion and supposedly be one with God, he sees the chance to get an answer on a question about Narciso. The fact that he receives no response ensures that there is doubt about the whole Christian faith. The death of a boyfriend who disbelieves cause there's been done so much injustice to him, probably also has a big influence.

The acting of Ultima and Antonio by Miriam Colon and Luke Ganalon is excellent and credible. Colon is a female Mexican version of "Gandalf" with a strong personality despite her old age, and a furrowed, tanned face that radiates wisdom. However, the best player is Ganalon. Superb acting. The supporting cast is perfectly chosen.

So if you want to experience a zen-moment among all the other action-packed and exciting movies, then you should try this film.

More reviews at http://opinion-as-a-moviefreak.blogspot.be/

In Carl Franklin's depiction of Rudolfo Anaya's critically acclaimed novel Bless Me, Ultima, Franklin uses some techniques to convey the theme of nature. Although Franklin effectively uses a lot of techniques in the film, it is very overwhelming and distracts the audience from the story. Franklin's film follows a young boy Antonio and his journey through childhood, he is split between understanding what to believe. In contrast to the book, Franklin did not choose to focus on Antonio's choices between which family he should follow. Franklin chose to give the focus to Antonio and his connection to Ultima and nature. He effectively uses transition and scale techniques to illustrate the connection between Antonio with Ultima. For example, the first time you see Ultima and Antonio together there is a burn in and out transition between the two as they give gracious glares to each other. Franklin gives the introduction between them like they were mother and son, almost as they knew everything about each other already. Also as Antonio is guided by Ultima through childhood, many scenes have Antonio walking away with an owl looking over. The owl is representing Ultima watching over Antonio as he leaves home. Franklin lets the audience feel the guidance of Ultima over Antonio throughout the movie thoroughly. Franklin used some different techniques as he tried to also illustrates Antonio's connection to nature. Using techniques like the diegetic sound and foreground shots made the feeling of nature overwhelming in important scenes. For example, as the people of the town are ready to blow away Lupito, Antonio watches. Franklin puts him in the foreground of the scene putting the river and bushes more in focus. It intentionally pulls the attention of the viewers seeing Antonio witnessing a death to a scene of a man dieing. The audience doesn't feel the full effect of the event has on Antonio. The attention is also pulled away from Antonio witnessing a death when Narciso is killed. Franklin films this scene through a heavy rainstorm, using nature again to distract the audience. Franklin was able to effectively use techniques to convey certain themes to the audience, but a lot of the techniques were useless and distracting to the interpreted themes of the movie.

Bless Me, Ultima is based off of coming of age novel by Rudolfo Anaya. The novel contains numerous symbols and themes that examine topics ranging from identity discoveries to the question of after-life. These themes may be thoroughly examined in a novel but not in a 106 minute movie. I am not criticizing the movie because it's not faithful to the book (I actually did not enjoyed the book), but because the film does not seem to stand on its own without background of the book. This leads to many problems throughout the film.

Many of scenes and events such as Ultima's black magic and Antonio's brother departing are left empty. We do see Franklin's use of Antonio's point of view shots and reaction shot of Antonio, which may mean that Franklin is trying to emphasize Antonio's internal growth, but as a film, the images need to speak more meanings than a frozen face of Antonio. The audience is left with Antonio's bad acting. I don't mean to be harsh but the actor of Antonio, Luke Ganalon, acted more forcefully and not naturally throughout the film. Antonio almost appeared to be lacking emotions. There's no sense of melodrama that could move the audience, but just a plain acting that appear to be reciting a script. So adding the bad acting and empty still shots of Antonio's reaction, the audience don't get the growth and changes of Antonio, but a feel of just a spectator watching a "set-up" scene.

Another problem with the movie is cramming. Throughout the film, I never felt the building up but merely a skimming of themes. Just to name a few, there are Antonio struggling in dominantly white school, confusion over Catholicism and Ultima's magic, and Antonio's identity, but the movie seem to be really good at focusing on tensions between Tenorio and Ultima. For the rest of the themes, the movie just introduces them without analyzing them. For example, what is the point of introducing characters such as Florence and the "gang" at church? They merely seem to have done nothing to move the story further. We don't get any backgrounds or any explanations of the gang but just scenes of them teasing Antonio. For Florence, he seems to be just a "throw-in" to the film. The first time we were introduced to Florence, he was just a kid who was also teased and seemed self-conscious, but then the second time, we see Florence suddenly standing firmly to his belief that he has no sins. Really! Wow! Maybe this is to show another "witnessing" by Antonio, but the movie's cramming makes characters like Florence not credible.In total, all of these introductions may have been intended to show Antonio's struggle, but so what? If I have not read the book, I wouldn't even thought that Antonio's self-struggle was that important theme because I would be distracted by another scenes of Tenorio threatening Ultima.

This brings me up to another problem. The transitions. I'm not sure if I ever felt a smooth roller-coaster tension, but instead felt just a bumpy ride. There are happy scenes. Many of them. For example, we see Antonio skipping second grade because his teacher believes Antonio is intelligent and then boom, we are introduced to a dark scene of Ultima in danger. It's like jumping into an icy pool after a fine spa. Many of the scenes consisted of happy scenes with music blasting in high pitches that you may think maybe Antonio is happy or what not and then it's in some intense moment with some speedy music tempo, you're just like, oh- no, what's wrong now after a happy moment?. This leaves the scenes to never build up, but keeps on crashing until an awkward ending.

However, most of these problems are the result of mediocre screenplay. I don't blame the director (but ironically, the scriptwriter is also the director!). The director does a great job attempting to visually paint the film. The theme of nature is very evident. Many of the long shots with voice over of Antonio sounds and appears poetic. Even for scenes with story, the nature seem to smoothly converge with the story. The scene where Antonio and his family gather for harvest is beautiful. The lights are brightly lit enough to illustrate the happy moments occurring while not lit enough to over expose the audience with "eye-hurting" sunlight. Moreover, the scene includes slightly lowered angle shots that converge the subjects (family) with the ground-like nature.

Moreover, the director does a great job alleviating the choppy screenplay. For example, Narciso's death was extremely abrupt. After Narciso is left drunk and alone, we get a close up shot of Antonio, revealing Antonio's reflection. Then next second, we see Antonio running to his house at rainy afternoon, and then suddenly, BAM, Narciso is shot by Tenorio. The pace itself is extremely abrupt and unnatural, and I blame the screenplay, but the director makes the scene flow smoothly. He achieves this by first slowly zooming into Antonio and then uses a soundtrack of chilling whistle that seems like Antonio is suddenly alert and realizing something. Next, when Antonio turns around and discovers Tenorio about to shoot Narciso, we see them in a long distant shot that illustrates the scene in Antonio's point of view. In total, this makes the unexpected gun shot not a result of bad screenplay but as a part of spontaneous life: Antonio is about to witness another tragedy that he was never ready for.

In summary, Bless Me, Ultima is a beautifully shot movie that is more like a visual cliff note of the book. I would enjoy the movie if there is a strong focus or some kind of theme that keeps occurring throughout the movie, but instead, I am left with some "trial tastes" of diverse and emotional themes about Antonio's coming of age.

I really liked Franklin's use of extreme long shots through out the film.Franklin frequently used extreme long shots when Antonio and Ultima were interacting with nature.The nature aspect of the book and film are extremely important and I think by using extreme long shots, nature in the movie really stands out. It's almost as if nature is a character in the film. If Franklin had chosen not to use the extreme long shots, the importance of nature would have not stood out as much, making it's role in the film not as effective. Franklin also did a decent job with his use of diegetic sound. The use of diegetic sound further emphasized the importance of nature. At times though I feel like the diegetic sound was a bit too much, more specifically in the scene where Narciso is murdered by Tenorio. The sound of the rain is a huge distraction and it disconnects the audience with Narciso's death. It's almost as if Narciso's character was not as valued as much in the film as he was in the book. All in all, Narciso's death felt very isolated especially when Franklin decided to use the extreme long shot of his lifeless body. It lost all effect that it was supposed to have along with Antonio confessing for Narciso as he was dying. The confession was drowned out by the noise of the rain, which played into Antonio's fate as a priest.

The film in whole was not very effective. The acting did not seem as animated or genuine as it should have been. It also left out major themes that were in the book. We all know that a film can't possibly include everything from the book, but I feel like Franklin left out too much. The audience never really see's Antonio's internal struggle with his identity and his battle with choosing if he is to follow in his mother or father's foot steps. This is another major part of the book and is something Franklin failed to put across all together.

I am thinking this is one of those films you either get .. or you don't. This is an astonishingly simple story about a young boy of Mexican extraction set during WW2. Slight of stature but strong of faith, he is old enough to question what adults tell him and at the same time young enough to actually see the truth when it presents itself (a trait most of us lose as we age). His extended family includes Ultima, also known as La Grande, a woman who, depending on your view of the story, is either a very clever local healer and/or a witch and/or a true descendant of the teachers or "nature-priests" that Carlos Castanada made famous in the 60s. The music is haunting. The story is engaging. I doubt I will ever forget this film but if you try it and don't connect with it, that's OK too.