Truly Dreadful Film

just watch it!

Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

Bless Me, Ultima, directed by Carl Franklin, a film based on the book by the same name, written by Rudolfo Anaya, is a touching, emotional, and thought provoking film about a boy's journey to understand the people and the world around him. The film does a very good job recreating the magical feel the book gives you. Franklin's use of many different film techniques also helps the film immerse the audience. For example, when Antonio and his father, Gabriel, walk outside to confront Tenorio, the film's antagonist, Franklin utilizes a P.O.V. tracking shot to make the audience feel like they're with Antonio and Gabriel as they confront Tenorio. I feel that if Franklin used a different camera angle, it wouldn't have the same effect. Another effective camera technique is when Franklin uses a high angle shot to show Narciso's dead body. This is very effective because it gives the impression that Narciso's death isn't significant, giving the film a much deeper meaning. As for the acting, it was garbage. The actor who played Antonio is too flat, giving Antonio a whiny, brat like impression. The only actor who seemed like they knew how to act was the woman playing Ultima. She gave Ultima a wise, old feel to her, and she looked just as I would imagine Ultima would look. In conclusion, the film adaptation of Bless Me, Ultima, is a good film that sticks to the source material very well. The acting is garbage, excluding a few actors. If you liked the novel, you will most likely like the film.

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.

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.

Both the movie and the book for Bless Me, Ultima have very intense scenes. The lessons they teach are very relatable. They question elements of morality and social prejudice that really allow you to think deeply about actual life. The movie gets the upper hand in that the music played really intensifies the mood and allows you to feel the emotion behind every single scene that the book is unable to do. The book however is very good as well. Since you actually get to read what is going on, I feel like you can really get a better and deeper understanding of Antonio's thoughts. Reading his narration throughout the whole book allows a reader to get to know him on a very personal level. I felt like I knew Antonio more from reading his thoughts in the book than watching him in the movie. The movie does leave out certain aspects of the book that I feel were very important but nonetheless it did not add any nonsense and followed the storyline pretty well in my opinion.