The Letters

William Riead's film about Mother Teresa, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979 for her work with India's poor, earnestly espouses the case for her canonization (on March 15, it was announced that Mother Teresa was approved by Pope Francis and will be made a saint on September 3rd). Unfortunately, it's also stilted, turgid, and laughably amateurish. The title refers to letters made public years after the nun's death in 1997, in which she revealed lifelong doubts about God's existence and the darkness she felt in her soul. Those missives to her spiritual adviser provide a framing device that turns the film into a prolonged flashback, as the priest (Rutger Hauer) designated to collect evidence in favor of canonization and their original recipient (Max von Sydow) analyze the letters to see what they reveal about Teresa's spiritual life. Their discussion segues into scenes of the efforts made by Teresa (Juliet Stevenson) to move outside the Calcutta convent school run by her order to establish a hospice where impoverished people who are afflicted with terminal illnesses can die with dignity. Much of the narrative involves Teresa's attempts to secure Vatican approval for an entirely separate congregation called the Missionaries of Charity despite opposition from her superior. Teresa's piety and selfless sense of service gradually overcome resistance from the locals and lead to the exponential growth of the congregation and her eventual recognition in the press, culminating in the Nobel Prize. This is an inspiring story, but Riead paces the film so deliberately and awkwardly that it is reduced to chintzy hagiography that diminishes its subject, turning Mother Teresa into a plaster saint instead of a real one. Not recommended. (F. Swietek)