Letters to Father Jacob

My repertoire of Finnish films contains so few specimens that a kindergartner could add them up. I know I am missing classics such as Tuntematon Sotilas (The Unknown Soldier, 1955), that airs on TV every Independence Day, and more modern works such as Äideistä parhain (Mother of Mine, 2005). I am generally just not a fan, though, since they tend to be slow-paced, taciturn, stark, and often depressing.

In spite of such preconceived ideas, I watched Postia Pappi Jaakobille (Letters to Father Jacob, 2009) from the comfort of my friend’s sofa this past week. It’s the story of Leila, pardoned for her life sentence in prison, and Father Jacob, a blind old priest she is sent to help. He wants her help reading letters that people send him with their prayer requests. Father Jacob lives for those dwindling letters, and at first, Leila has no patience for God, Father Jacob, or his useless letters. 

If you are looking for action, this film is not one you should pick up. But it is full of character development tension, nature details and everyday sounds: a tea kettle boiling, a leaky roof, the summer wind in the birches, and the postman’s bicycle, that enhance its slowness and highlight its down-to-earth take on the timing and reasons for the intersection of these two lives.  Finnish minimalism is present in the storytelling and the simple musical score.  While this film is moving, it doesn't wallow in sentimentality.

Letters is one of those movies that I am still thinking about days later (and yes, I cried through it).   Both main characters are completely believable, even understandable, in their separate worldviews.  But their intertwining tale offers a redemptive window on human brokenness, perseverance and above all, compassion.  The view is excruciatingly beautiful.

Regarding the Cinema

A trip to the cinema is a vicarious experience. First of all, you sit in a row of comfortable chairs in a familiar generic media center, watching something that is meant to entertain you and evoke your empathy, persuade you of something, or further the agenda that the director intends. So you have a soundtrack that creates atmosphere, camera perspectives to focus on specific details and movements, and character development and plot sequence that either make or break the viewing experience. I am a fan of movies on the big screen, especially when they are artistically developed, true to the characters' natures, and fulfill the intention for which they were created or storytold.

But on the flip side, I always think about how you miss the reality of actually being "there" wherever the story is set. You can see poverty, rain, a beautiful sunset, a dusty street, a baby sleeping or a bomb exploding on screen. What you miss in those situations is the feeling of your skin getting pelted by drops, the flies buzzing annoyingly around your ear, the uncomfortable feeling of a rock in your shoe, the smell of children's skin or burning mass, your own indecision of what to do next, or your heart beating a mile a minute with fear or adrenaline from the adventure. Who's to say what you would actually be thinking or remembering in the middle of a river crossing or a pirate attack! If you were veritably in that situation, there would be no soundtrack rising in parallel crescendo to the drama or abating to violin sighs during a romantic moment with a handsome hunk who of course does not have bad breath! There would be no movie crew with cameras, no stunt double, and no director to yell, "Cut! Again, take Nº 365!"

But I have wandered. What I intended to say is that movies as a business are so successful because they provide a vicarious experience. There are so many styles and stories that every personality can find something it likes amongst the offerings of the cinema. Like a skillful novel or work of historical documentation, they speak to our imaginations, allow us to escape from our reality, inform us, entertain us or awaken thoughts in our minds on various levels of political inclinations, the dimensions of human nature, powers of superheroes or whatnot. We can live an adventure at relatively little inconvenience, without the danger and with popcorn and candy only an arm's reach away! :)

(In other words, I'm headed to the cinema now, where I will go and forget my need to study and my sore throat for a few moments while I wonder what the smells would actually be if the screen life were in 3D around me!)