by Jeanne (Pythia) Leiter

You have to see this movie. If you see a single movie this year, I repeat, you must see this movie. Yes, it’s about a seven-year-old and his coming of age. But, ultimately, it’s about the difficulty in distinguishing good from evil and reconciling oneself with a Deity who allows evil to exist in the world.

It’s set in 1944 in a very small farming village in New Mexico. The villagers are a tight-knit Catholic community of Mexican-Americans. The story is told from seven-year-old Antonio’s point of view with the adult Antonio filling in some thoughts with voice-over.

Antonio’s life changes forever when his grandmother comes to live with them. Ultima comes to live out her remaining time on earth with her daughter’s family. She brings knowledge of the natural world to Antonio. She brings healing to the families of the village. In the minds of the villagers, and many in today’s modern, scientific society, healing by Nature is an unknown–therefore to be suspicious of, to be feared, if not outright hated.

Even Antonio’s classmates view him differently after Ultima joins his family. In one playground scene a classmate calls Ultima a bruja (witch). To which Antonio replies, "She’s no bruja." The boy responds with, "Are you calling me a liar?" The boy pulls off his glasses and jumps Antonio. Antonio, knowing the truth of his grandmother as a wise Curandera (healer), fights for her.

We follow Antonio as he questions everything and everyone, sometimes verbally, and sometimes by his actions. His curiosity isn’t stifled by Ultima (the opposite is true), not by his parents, not by his classmates even though they ridicule him, and most especially not by the parish priest who tries physical punishment to control youngsters’ minds.

Antonio learns about good and evil, sometimes painfully, but all events make up the pieces of the picture puzzle of his life. Antonio not only survives, he grows in knowledge and wisdom.

Stephen Farber said in his review of this movie, "it evokes a vanished way of life with tenderness and restraint." I agree with the latter–"tenderness and restraint", but not with the "vanished way of life". There are many people I personally know who are hard at work saving what remains of indigenous medicines, plants, and animals containing possible cures for cancer, mental illnesses, etc. I know Curanderas and Curanderos and Shamans, and many, many women (and a few men) who don’t claim the name, but walk the path and do the work. So, the "way of life", i.e. natural healing with the help of Mother Earth and Her plants, and listening to what the wind, water, earth, and animals have to say has not vanished, it’s merely been weakened. Every day another Gringo and/or another wise Latina/Latino hears Mother Earth’s message and says, "Yes."

As to the technical quality of the film–it was beautifully photographed, and wonderfully acted (all Mexican-American roles were actually enacted by Latina/Latino actors). Some might find sections of the film slow, I found those sections natural to the time period and the action. The set designs and costume designs were appropriate to the forties.

A major studio would never have been interested in a topic such as this. As I researched the technical information for the film, I found a very surprising fact. It was personally funded by Christy Walton, heir to the Wal-Mart fortune. For the simple reason that she read the book (same title) by Rudolfo Anaya and her soul responded.

The pen is mightier than the sword. The pen that wrote the book, that wrote the screenplay based on that book, shows us that we receive love and healing when we align ourselves with Mother Earth. There is a reason that "Love conquers all" is a cliche. A cliche is a saying that we all know to be true. So true it does not need to be stated. Sometimes, though, it’s nice to see a non-cliche movie show us that the Earth does indeed love us and gives us healing if we but ask for it.

Opens: Friday, Feb. 22

Cast: Luke Ganalon, Miriam Colon, Dolores Heredia, Benito Martinez, Joaquin Cosio, Castulo Guerra, Alfred Molina.

Director-screenwriter: Carl Franklin

Based on the novel by: Rudolfo Anaya.

Producers: Mark Johnson, Sarah DiLeo, Jesse B’Franklin.

Executive producers: Christy Walton, Kevin Reidy.

Director of photography: Paula Huidobro.

Production designer: David Bomba.

Music: Mark Kilian.

Costume designer: Donna Zakowska.

Editors: Alan Heim, Toby Yates.

PG 13 rating, 102 minutes.