The film “Bless Me, Ultima” opens to a national audience this weekend after a successful run in a limited audience last Fall.
Weekend box office numbers matter, big time. If you want to see more quality Latino-themed films, set aside some time today to take your family, friends, and neighbors down to your local theater and watch this film. Strong weekend support for this movie means that it is less likely to get pulled from screens and it will once again show Hollywood that Latinos will come out to support important films.
“Bless Me, Ultima” is based on a classic novel by Rudolfo Anaya. I haven’t read this book yet so I went to my wife, a Spanish/Chicano Studies major, and asked her for the skinny.
“Bless Me, Ultima” is a coming-of-age story about a young boy growing up in New Mexico during World War II. A mysterious curandera (natural healer), Ultima, comes to live with his family and she teaches him about the positive power of the spirit world. Not everyone sees these teachings as positive so some think she is more of a witch.
This story line is very familiar to me because my father was orphaned at a young age and at one point lived with a family of curanderos, himself being trained to be a part of his new family’s business.
Go see this film and take as many people with you as you can. Hopefully this film can lead to a much-needed resurgence in quality Latino-themed films.
Leave a comment if you have seen the film. Use the “#blessmeultima” and “latism” (Latinos in Social Media) hashtags if you mention it on Twitter or Vine.
Related Articles
>Bless Me, Ultima (official website)
>Review by Roger Ebert (rogerebert.com)