THE LETTERS EXPLAINS WHY MOTHER TERESA WAS CANONIZED
In 1910, Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhi (played by Juliet Stevenson) was born in Skopje, then a part of the Ottoman Empire but now the capital of Macedonia. She relocated to Ireland at the age of 18 to join the Sisters of Loreto, seeking to become a missionary in a non-Catholic country. She was assigned to India in 1929 and taught at Santa Teresa Convent in Darjeeling. In 1931, she was relocated to Calcutta, where most of The Letters takes place. When she took her vows as a nun in 1937, she chose the name Teresa. Following India’s independence, she sees the consequence of violence between Hindus and Muslims outside her window in the convent—homelessness, poverty, and sickness. Venturing out of the convent to feed a poor family displeases the head nun (Mahabanoo Mody-Kotwal), but Teresa soon insists that her mission was to help the poor, as she believes that God had spoken to and instructed her. She moves out of the convent to live in a shack along with the poor, continuing to teach English to local girls, and soon attracts many volunteers to run a hospice, comforting the terminally ill, and later occupies part of a house of a generous homeowner, Gomes (Deepak Dadhwal). Soon, the mayor of the city allows her to move into an abandoned Hindu monastery, but he also has to quiet objections from Hindus that she is of a different faith. When her assignment from the Vatican appears in jeopardy, she applies and is permitted in 1950 to form a new Catholic order—the Missionaries of Charity, which now is present in 133 countries. Despite her refusal to be interviewed, claiming that she is only an instrument of God, she later becomes famous, receiving the Nobel Peace Prize in 1997 just before her death. The main plot, however, consists of the deliberation within the church on whether she should be considered a saint. Much of the crucial evidence comes from letters that she wrote to her spiritual adviser. In the film, Father Celeste van Exem (Max von Sydow), who observes her performing a miracle in 1998, summarizes their content. Directed by William Riead, The Letters reveals some of the politics of the Catholic Church and mostly whitewashes the memory of Mother Teresa, perhaps to answer her detractors. MH
THE GIRL KING HAS MORE PARADOXES THAN THE TITLE
Queen Christina of Sweden (played by Malin Buska) arose to the throne on the death of her father Adolf in 1632 when she was 6 years old, but she is now one of only three women buried at the Vatican. Her path is brought to the screen in The Girl King by director Director Mika Kaurismäki. She is brought up as a child with the ability to fence, ride horseback, read philosophy, appreciate fine art and music, and wear masculine clothing, as she appeared to be male when born. She is also brainwashed out of her Catholic faith. But when crowned king (!) at age 18, Protestant Sweden (though mostly filmed in Finland) is vying for control of Catholic territories while she proposes negotiations for the Treaty of Westphalia of 1648. Sleeping alone in cold Stockholm, she has ladies in waiting to keep her warm, but finds herself falling in love with one of them, Countess Ebba Sparre (Sara Gadon). Confused about her emotions, she corresponds with René Descartes (Patrick Bauchau) to the point of attracting him to visit Sweden, where he gets sick, perhaps is poisoned, and dies. But her love affair is not well received at the court, so a decision is made, perhaps by Chancellor Johan Oxenstiernato (Michael Nygvist), to have a man propose to Ebba. Christina becomes despondent, decides to convert to Catholicism, and leaves for Rome with one-third of the treasure of the kingdom. Half the film is happy, especially when as queen she pledges to make Sweden the most sophisticated country in Europe, so the dark side comes as a surprise that the film tries to make explicable. The Political Film Society has nominated The Girl King as best film exposé of 2015. MH