Bless Me, Ultima (2013)

Surprisingly incoherent and boring

Such a frustrating disappointment

Excellent, Without a doubt!!

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

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.

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.

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.

I like the way that in the book for Bless Me, Ultima they really show dichotomy between Antonio's Mom and Dad. Maria wanting Antonio to follow his Luna blood line and Gabriel wanting him to follow his Marez blood. In the book it really show how much conflict there is in his mind of who he wants to become and what he wants to be. However, in the movie I really liked how they showed how Maria and Gabriel still love each other very much no matter what their differences are. In the book they didn't show the love between Maria and Gabriel as well as in the movie. Watching the movie really helped me imagine what Antonio was going through and his emotions. They did a great job of making this movie and show the conflicts in Antonio's life when he was young. I do recommend this movie for those who have read the book.