I will watch any film with Rutger Hauer. The Letters is a film about the Catholic Church’s investigation to determine whether or not Mother Teresa is a saint. The investigator, played by Hauer, interviews Father Celeste van Exem, a priest who was her spiritual advisor played by Max von Syndow. Father Celeste tells Mother Teresa’s story based on his personal experiences and his reading of her letters. Their conversation is interspersed with cutaways to scenes from the past of Mother Teresa’s journey from cloistered nun to a nun who ministered to the sick and poor.
The Letters may be more enjoyable if you are Catholic and understand that it must be a miracle from God that she was able to successfully navigate the office politics and arcane rules within her church. She faces considerable opposition from her Mother Superior, who seems to have gallons of Haterade. I’m Protestant, and if you think God wants you to do something, and it is consistent with His word, you just do it. The idea that you have to jump through hoops at a church where God is presumably the boss seems a bit absurd, but the majority of the drama of The Letters rests on this premise. This section depicts the female boss as the villain.
The Letters also tries to give a historical context to the viewer. India is finally freeing itself from the shackles of colonialism. Her timing could not be worse. The last person anyone wants to see is another European telling them what they should do. Unfortunately The Letters unintentionally creates a dynamic that Mother Teresa would hopefully not approve of-a justification of imperialism as a noble enterprise to save the natives from themselves. I’m not saying that I know how to depict her rejection from the people whom she wanted to help, but The Letters did not succeed in showing the locals as understandably suspicious. The Letters depicts them as hostile, mean and ignorant. This section depicts the Indian people as the villain until they finally repent for being such self-sabotaging jerks.
Of course Mother Teresa is patient, self-effacing, humble, giving and loving despite facing cruelty and threats. She is treated more like a Jesus figure than a human being who was plagued with doubt and felt abandoned by God. The Letters occasionally depicts her as physically tired or prostrate in supplication when she worships, but The Letters does not show the viewers her emotional turmoil, only her contagious zeal and optimism.
I had a problem with the narrative structure of The Letters. Could it be more remote? The Letters is a story told by an investigator as told by a priest by Mother Teresa. No wonder I felt no connection to her as a human being. So the guys of the Catholic Church are heroes for recognizing how awesome Jesus, *ahem* Mother Teresa, is. Dudes are the best.
The narrative structure also does not work. There are plenty of scenes depicted that neither Mother Teresa nor Father Celeste would know about. Randomly in the first half of The Letters, two reporters talk about India becoming independent, but we don’t see them again until late into the second half of the film when one of them finally meets Mother Teresa. First neither Mother Teresa nor Father Celeste were present for this conversation so how does the audience see it? We should not. Second maybe I did not need to meet them so early because I kept wondering when I would see them again and kept wondering if I misunderstood something. I did not.
While I have seen Rutger Hauer in far worse films, I was still disappointed with The Letters because it had an amazing cast and was shot on location in India, but was a missed opportunity to show that even notable Christians like Mother Teresa do not feel like they have it together. Instead The Letters was a remote rehash of Mother Teresa’s greatest hits.
Side note: Rutger Hauer played a murderous Cardinal in Sin City. Max von Sydow played a priest in The Exorcist.