Bless Me Ultima Themes

Bless Me, Ultima
Based off the 1972 novel, the film Bless Me, Ultima, tells the story of a young, Chicano boy named Antonio Márez who lives in the eastern plains of New Mexico. In this review, I will be expanding upon two themes that I connected with and felt were most central to the discovery of Antonio’s identity. These themes are the loss of innocence and the struggles of cultural differences within the community. Throughout the film, Antonio (Tony) struggles to figure out for himself the path he wants to pursue in life. The many tragedies that Antonio witness serve a valuable role in guiding him towards maturity and religious understanding, however, at the same time robbing Antonio of his innocence.
The first theme that stood out was

the loss of Antonio’s innocence. At the beginning of the novel, Antonio was just six years old and full of spirit. That quickly transposed as Antonio eavesdropped on a town mob chasing down a murderer named Lupito. Antonio watched the shooting of Lupito unfold and happened to lock eyes with him as the offender took his last breath. Being a bystander to any occurrence that involves life and death is no easy task and Antonio had to witness it at a very young age. I felt that Antonio’s whole demeanor changed and he began to really question complex issues surrounding him. Some of these issues consisted of God, evil, sin, and death. At this point in time, I realized that Antonio had already matured significantly just from one incident. Soon after the death of Lupito, Antonio was forced to experience another humbling and confusing event. Antonio stood nearby as Ultima (La Grande) cured Antonio’s uncle from a witches curse. Now in Antonio’s head, he is contemplating why Ultima was able to cure his uncle when the priest and doctors could not. I could imagine Antonio asking himself questions now such as, “Does Ultima have magical powers? Is she a witch? Is she God?” All these questions he would have to figure out for himself. The last example I am going to reiterate to explain how Antonio’s innocence was lost was the death of Narciso, the town drunk. As Narciso was taking his last breaths he requested Antonio to bless him and Antonio was obligated to act as a priest.
The second theme that helped shape Antonio’s identity was the theme of conflicting cultures.

The first instance where I noticed Antonio face this dilemma was at school when he pulled out a burrito at lunchtime and was laughed at by his white peers who all had sandwiches. Right away I saw the cultural differences taking an effect on Antonio when he casually stood up and made his way outside to eat lunch with the other Chican@ students. I saw this as the students were being segregated because of these cultural differences. In addition, Antonio was forced to speak only English while attending school. In the meantime, he spoke only Spanish at home. Mestizaje was also a contributing factor to Antonio’s identity problems. Mestizaje is defined by dictionary.com as “A person of mixed racial ancestry, especially of mixed European and Native American ancestry.” Since the beginning of the film, Antonio fell victim to mestizaje, not knowing whether he was more like the Márez side of the family, or the Luna side of the family. Since Antonio’s three older brothers took after the Márez side and left to roam the states, it was expected of Antonio to stay and become a priest. Not only did Antonio’s parents see Antonio becoming a priest, so did Antonio’s

classmates.
Although the film ended before the audience could discover what path Antonio chose to persevere, one could assume that he was matured enough to make the best decision for himself. Because of being a witness to several deaths and even acting as a priest to grant a dying man’s wish, Antonio lost his innocence before reaching his teen years. However, his loss of innocence and the constant struggle of mestizaje, both contributed to Antonio finding his true identity. Some will argue that a child should not have to endure such horrific events but some will argue that the events only result in a wiser and better educated individual. In this case, I agree that the experiences Antonio had to witness shaped his identity and gave him the insight to finally start answering some of his life questions.