Good And Evil In Bless Me Ultima

A film based on the best selling, and award winning novel “Bless me Ultima” narrated by Antonio Marez Luna, while living in New Mexico right around the end of World War II. Throughout the film Antonio finds himself struggling with incredible weighty philosophical and identity questions, and in that respect Rudulfo Anaya, the author, gives a lot of credit to young people, that may also have these incredible thought processes as well of trying to figure out the world that they have been brought into, and have not had a chance to shape themselves within their environment. The film itself explores miracles and an age of wonders where magic realism apprise the protagonist Antonio Marez's into giving him a feel of how unfathomable and strange the world can be.
The very first words we hear Antonio say as an adult telling his story is, "Why is their evil in the world?" one of the many question that pops into Antonio's mind as a young boy. Many of the questions Antonio has a need to find answers to include; does god exist? Does God love me, if so why is their evil? If there is evil, is there a god? What if there are other gods?

Another big identity struggle that Antonio faces is determining his future. With either his father’s side of the family, which are all vaqueros descended from the Spanish conquistadors, or his mothers side which are much more tied to the land and farms. Regardless of his doubts within in his church, in himself and in his religious principals in general, Antonio finds love for his faith. Antonio still at the heart of it finds something to love, and believe in. That does not negate anything the Catholic church teaches but instead, he finds a different forms of spirituality rooted in more folk and indigenous cultures, which is where Ultima comes in. Ultima is an older woman who birthed all of Antonio’s brother and sisters, she is called a curandera, which is like a folk spiritual healer. As the film progresses, witchcraft is used in many aspects of the film. When Ultima arrives to Antonio’s house to stay over. Antonio then starts to see Ultima as a source of power and spirituality, that is not in conflict with his catholic teaching. When one of Antonio’s uncles gets ill, due to a curse from three brujas (witches). Antonio gets to go help Ultima break the curse and that is when Antonio began to witness the magic that laid in the hands of his mentor. Soon when the three witches began to die, one by one, due to Ultima’s witchcraft their father Tenorio, swears vengeance on Ultima and that is where a lot of the conflict starts to arise.
“La Frontera” by Gloria Anzaldua, talks about dealing with the same identity conflicts that Antonio is dealing with, the mestizo; how much do I identify with the indigenous people that the Spanish conquered?

and how much am I tied to that religion that I love, that the Spanish brought with them? “ Growing up between opposing spiritualities how could I reconcile the two, the pagan and the Christianity?” (Anzaldua 38) in general it explores the question; Am I conquered, or am I the conquer? “No matter to what use my people put the supernatural world, it is evident to me now that the spirit world, …does in fact exist” (38) Antonio does a great job of seeing the world absolute, he sees currents of truth and power running throughout both of these belief systems and ultimately sees them as coexisting, rather than completely opposed from each

other.
The director portrays the Chicano culture of the 1940s in New Mexico, in which Spanish and English coexist, where American influence begins to be noticed in the Culture and way of life. While Antonio's parents belong to a generation that has fervently embraced Catholicism and has left aside the heathen customs and wisdom of their ancestors, their children do not accept religious sentiment and loyalty to the family from which they display and prefer to adopt the way of life and language of the United States, which further enlarges the gap between generations and Members of the Márez family “Mexican Americans are losing key aspects of Mexican culture, but at a pace that sustains expressions of the ethnic culture” (David 3). Just like Antonio finds himself in mid-conflict of trying to find his own identity through his believes, his older brothers have also gone through the same situation. Antonio’s older brothers Andrew, Eugene and Leon were drafted to defend the country they were born in, and after they find themselves moving further away from the family to California and establishing more modern morals and believes within themselves.
The director exhibits a powerful story of a journey regarding a young boy stirring towards adulthood; Antonio’s decisions on his journey unfolded the diverse and rich heritage of the Mexican Americans living in the Southwest. Opportunities for change and growth within a very established cultural structure like the catholic church is something very powerful for such a young child to observe, and seeing faith as something dynamic, not just learning your catechism but really engaging in it, and knowing what you believe in, to apply those reflections to a faith rather than inheriting it. In the end, Antonio is not compelled to choose between the two traditions of either a cowboy or farmer, but rather he unions them into a path that leads him towards his own destiny.