Bless Me, Ultima (2013)

Strong and Moving!

If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

Throughout this film Franklin used many techniques to his advantage like sound and lighting. He used indigenous and tranquil music that really went with many of the major themes in this movie. Like most movies Franklin had the music increase in volume and tempo as the scene became more intense and serious. He did this at a more considerable way because he had the music fading in and out of specific scenes which really makes the movie easier to watch and keep up with what's going on. The music also goes well with the magical scenery of the llano and the lighting was perfect throughout the film weather it was showing a characters emotion or just showing the audience the wide open plains of the llano. Franklin does an excellent job using lighting for every scene because the lighting changes with the mood of what is happening in the story which he is trying to hint at using foreshadow to let the audience kind of figure out what will happen next. When things become grim at certain points of the film usually involving death Franklin purposely makes the lighting change from a lighter background to a darker drearier one. Franklin did an excellent job with this whole movie (technique wise) but personally it wasn't one of my favorites. One thing I did not like at all was the narrator's voice that was supposedly Antonino's. Having that narration gave off the illusion that the narrator was a completely different character in the movie. Comparing the book and movie I think Franklin did a really good job with keeping the events that happened in the book in chronological order and transferring that to the movie. The one major difference I would say would have to be that the book is more about Antonio's decisions and how he is pressured at home to do well and his felling towards god and everything he believes in. We see a bit of that in the movie but nothing like the book but overall Franklin did a decent job using techniques like lighting and sound to bring the book, characters and struggles to life but really lacked on showing the predicaments the Antonio faced.

In the movie Bless Me Ultima, Carl Franklin does a great job using extreme long shots and diegetic sound. During the harvest and when Antonio spends time with Ultima on the llano, Franklin uses extreme long shots. By filming these scenes like this the viewer sees all the nature around them. This makes the viewer connect with the land just as they do in the movie. The diegetic sound throughout the movie also creates a great connection with the land. However I do think Franklin get carried away with the sound design and extreme long shots. During Narciso's death the sound of the rain drowns out his confession to Antonio. I think hearing Narciso confess himself to Antonio would have enhanced the movie and made it more similar to the book. Drowning out Narciso and Antonios important conversation with the rain defeats Antonios internal struggle of becoming a priest. In the movie Antonio is not as torn between becoming a priest or a vaquero. I think this was a mistake because of how vital this is in the book. Antonios internal struggle between pleasing his mother or pleasing his father is why he is conflicted most of his time as a child. Franklin also uses an extreme long shot when Narciso is dying. Using an extreme long shot takes away from the connection between Antonio and Narciso and the personal effect of Narciso's death. Overall I think Franklin did a good job portraying the connection between man and nature but he could have done a better job with Antonio's internal struggle.

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.

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.