Bless Me, Ultima

Writer-director Carl Franklin's adaptation of Rudolfo Anaya's classic 1972 coming-of-age novel is set in New Mexico, circa 1944. Six-year-old Antonio (Luke Ganalon) bonds with his grandmother Ultima (Miriam Colon), who arrives to spend her last days with his family and teaches him the old traditions she practices as a curandera (or medicine woman). At the same time ,Antonio is beginning school and preparing for his first communion under the tutelage of the stern town pastor. The conflict between the open-heartedness of Ultima's faith and the legalistic character of mid-century Catholicism acts as a backdrop to the film's main narrative arc, which is centered on the hostility Ultima evokes in a brutish but wealthy saloon keeper who blames her for the death of his daughter and winds up threatening Antonio and his family. Further subplots focus on the return of Antonio's three brothers from the war, disillusioned by the prejudice they've experienced in the larger world. While the story sometimes feels overstuffed and lugubrious, this beautifully-lensed film's sincerity and willingness to address big issues does justice to Anaya's celebrated book. Recommended. (F. Swietek)