Bless Me, Ultima

This Mexican-themed coming-of-age film, which also touches on religion and mysticism, is based on a book of the same name by Rudolfo Anaya, apparently banned in some schools for its pagan depictions. The story is told from the point of view of its young protagonist, Antonio (Luke Ganalon). It tells of the year or two when Ultima, an old woman and friend of the family, comes to spend her final years in New Mexico with them. The story stars an all-Hispanic cast of mostly unfamiliar (to me) actors. I believe Alfred Molina narrates as the adult Antonio.

The story takes place in 1944. Antonio and his sisters have it in their heads that Ultima is a bruja, a witch. But she says she is only a curandera, a healer, and this is borne out a few times during the film when she uses her knowledge of plant lore to save the sick and dying. But, Ultima also uses voodoo-like rituals and this witchlike behavior makes her a bit feared among the Catholic-religious Mexicans who live here.

Antonio’s father has dreams of moving from New Mexico to California where he hopes for a better life. Antonio’s mother comes from a family of farmers and is content to stay here where her father and brothers are close. Since it is in the era of World War 2, Antonio also has several older brothers, barely men themselves, who are fighting in the war, soon to return home.

We see Ultima teaching Antonio plant lore, and he witnesses both tragic and happy incidents involving his family and community. An uncle was unlucky to chance upon some local sisters in the night, who are suspected to be witches, and falls ill because of it, but Ultima cures him. This angers the sisters’ father Tenorio, a powerful man who vows vengeance on Ultima when one of his daughters dies, he believes from Ultima’s curse.

Antonio grows up and starts school, has scrapes with friends. His young uncles have wanderlust and want to migrate elsewhere to start their own lives. Summers are spent harvesting on the mother's family's farm. Antonio's father makes a stand to protect his family and Ultima, but her last days are spent with Antonio’s family as she vowed.

Although the title mentions Ultima and siginifies her importance, much of this film is not about her or the Ultima/Antonio relationship, although the story spends a good amount of time developing her story and showing her importance to the other storylines. The two actors do a good job playing out this relationship, and Miriam Colon as expected with her long career does a convincing job as both a feared bruja and a loving and protective grandmother type.

Since Molina narrates as the adult Antonio, it lacks some suspense when Antonio the child is threatened. The performance of Luke Ganalon as the young Antonio is charming and realistic despite some heavy themes he has to face. Established religion like Catholicism is not looked on kindly, as the local priest is a Caucasian who rules with an iron fist. He punishes the one local kid who's been pretty much abandoned by his family and feels  God has abandoned him, but leaves other similarly rowdy but "pious" children untouched. Antonio sees and sympathizes with the boy and the friendship between these two kids are well-acted. Even as a child, Antonio questions God and what He has allowed to befall the people in the community. He also looks death and evil in the eye several times in the story, mainly in the personification of Tenorio, and the superstitions of the townfolk that leads them to mob justice in a couple instances.

The majority of the rest of the cast is good, though not anyone else is particularly great. The strongest roles are those of Ganalon and Colon, and I give kudos to the film for being able to cast with an entirely Hispanic cast and keeping the independent flavor of the film, while still showing the scope of the events. Once can tell a lot must have been left out from the book this is based on and I suspect this could easily be made into a miniseries if there were an audience for it. Its mysticism is not romanticized such as in Like Water for Chocolate, especially because of its dark and realistic treatment. It appears Christy Walton, of the Wal-Mart family, formed a production company solely to produce this film, so its nice to see someone of such large means use it to fulfill a positive passion project.