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Reviews
Bless Me, Ultima (2012)
The movie wasn't too bad.
Carl Franklin did an admirable job in "Bless Me, Ultima". The movie itself followed the book correctly which is what I like in a movie. But that is not the wow-factor that made this movie stand out in my opinion. Franklin's use of Diegetic Sound and Extreme Long Shots really allowed the setting to stand out visually, audibly and perhaps emotionally. The land is one of the most treasured factors of the book and is made important in the movie as well. The ambiance is inordinately imperative and consequential in any movie but more so in this movie. Franklin's use of Diegetic Sound is just outright prodigious. He allows the setting to stand out not only visually, but audibly. These scant yet meaningful sounds that allow the land to really protrude through the stereotypical meaning of a setting to almost make the land come to life. In the book, the "llano" was one of the biggest components. The way Franklin also avails Extreme Long Shots very well. At almost every conversion there is an Extreme Long Shot so the audience can see the land at numerous angles, to really seize the importance of the land to its people. More so when Ultima and Antonio pick out herbs there are multiple Extreme or Normal Long Shots so the audience can get a great glimpse of the "llano". Those two aspects of the film are really what stood out to me in the audience because of how detailed each transition was along with the sound quality to make the land really speak for itself.