Justin Nelson In the Book there was a magical feel to it something straight out of a fairy tale, But in this movie Carl Franklin did not capture that at all the locations where great and all and the sound is amazing but that was all that was going for the movie. Each critical moment in the film was backed by some beautiful music to set the mood my Favorite scene was when we first meet Tenorio, Narciso was warning the family about Tenorio and his followers where coming for Ultima because Tenorio thinks Ultima is a Bruja (witch) and killed his daughter with a curse. So at the beginning of the scene Narciso barges in Antonios home with a warning about Tenorio then you can hear an angry mob in the distance then you hear and owl then the music was very worrisome you knew right off the bat something bad was coming and it was coming fast Tony and his father step out into the front yard to confront Tenorio and his followers after a back and forth with Tenorio, Tony and his father are moved aside after Tenorio calls Ultima a Bruja then the owl takes Tenorio's eye. One of a few great scenes in my opinion Over all good book OK movie.

Mariz Flores In this 2013 film, "Bless Me, Ultima",(Directed and Screen played by Carl Franklin and based on the novel by Rudolfo Anaya) displays a spiritual and generally hardworking town of old time agricultural Chicano people living in New Mexico during WW2. The film focuses on the protagonist, Antonio, who's curiosity places him in difficult and mature situations inside and outside of his home. The character whom had the opportunity to play Antonio contained a significant amount of innocence in which stripped the movie from a major memorable aspect. Antonio's character in the novel had questionable innocence due to what he has seen and how his curiosity puts him in dangerous situations where as in the film his ability to seek something potentially helpful to his learning process pushed him more towards innocence due to his looks and approach towards obstacles. In one of the first dangerous scenes in the film in which Lupito was killed, Antonio was in the grass hiding to watch what was happening on the bridge and the director uses a a medium long shot to show Antonio in the grass to make him appear small and innocent and the purpose of this scene was to show a small piece of his innocence being stripped but actually the scene made Antonio contain more innocence due to his facial expression and how expressed his feelings in the scene by running away extremely scared. In the film, Antonio continued to be graceful in all his actions and didn't really show his extremely spiritual side in comparison with the novel because the power of good rarely appeared in connection with Antonio in the novel. I know that the movie cannot be exactly like the book, but the movie lacked certain aspects of the book in which completed the book for example, the golden carp was completely disregarded in the making of the film. The golden carp is what made Antonio seem to slowly seem less innocent because he began to believe in many different spiritual theories. If the movie contained a loss of innocence and a widened since of religion, this would make the movie more interesting and meaningful.

Bryan Kluger 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.

koltpride17 Bless Me, Ultima Both the movie and the book expressed a wide view of different moods, details, and analysis. The book took the story one step at a time as the author, Rudolfo Anaya, progressively showed how the main character Antonio developed along with the conflicts of the novel. The book was good with a very detailed insight that made you feel as if you were a part of the book. The movie emphasized the major influences on Antonio as he becomes the age where you decide who and what you are going to be as an adult. The movie was pretty fast paced to fit the whole plot of the book into film, but it did not include the golden carp like it did in the book. This gave Antonio another religion to think about and I think this was very important to the book and the movie did not include it. Also, I like how the book goes into extreme detail to give you a perfect idea to how the story is meant to be portrayed. I liked to see each of the ways that Bless Me Ultima is expressed, but overall, the movie and the book was good.