‘Mother Teresa & Me’: How to Discover Life’s Priorities

Not Rated | 2h | Drama, Biopic | October 5, 2023

St. Mother Teresa taught that there’s no such thing as an unwanted person, no matter what the circumstance is. All life, from conception to death, is worth preserving and treating with dignity, care and respect.

The award-winning “Mother Teresa & Me” showcases St. Mother Teresa’s great heart of compassion for the poor, downtrodden, and unwanted, and her legacy of love for all, through the eyes of Kavita, a young British-Indian violinist, who’s just had numerous troubles rain down upon her. The point is to depict two very passionate women who arrived at their life’s purpose in the face of great odds.

The film opens in Calcutta, a year before India’s independence from Great Britain. After a massacre called “The Day of the Great Killing,” Mother Teresa (Jacqueline Fritschi-Cornaz) is searching for food for her 300 starving girls, among rioters, on a corpse-strewn street.

As she shoos a random, food-pilfering cow from a ransacked kitchen, a Muslim rioter catches sight her, but just as things are about to get ugly, a Hindu rioter shoots him dead. Mother Teresa is clearly divinely protected.

A Calling

Mother Teresa (Jacqueline Fritschi-Cornaz, foreground),  in "Mother Teresa & Me." The Zariya Foundation

By age 12, the Albanian-born Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu was convinced that she should commit herself to religious life. As she prayed at the shrine of the Black Madonna of Vitina, Letnica Kosovo, where she often went on pilgrimages, Jesus said to her in a vision, “Come, come, carry me to the homes of the poor, come be my light.” And so eventually Catholic nun Mary Teresa Bojaxhiu pestered the Archbishop, and then the pope, and moved to India to save the poorest of the poor.

As mentioned, “Mother Teresa And Me” features a parallel narrative that unfolds alongside the main one. Young Kavita (Banita Sandhu) was in a car accident, woke up in the hospital with a sprained arm, can’t play the violin anymore, and discovered that she’s pregnant as well as abandoned by her loser boyfriend. Furthermore, she must endure the kind of humorous presentation of an arranged marriage (like showcased in the hilarious documentary “Meet the Patels”) to a skinny, young doctor she has zero interest in, by both sets of parents.

Taking off for Calcutta (her parents’ birthplace) to escape her woes, Kavita discovers that even saints (especially saints) like Mother Teresa, in finding their life’s mission, are archetypically subjected to a “dark night of the soul.” And so, inspired by Mother Teresa’s example of compassion and forbearance, Kavita discovers that hope and purpose in life are gained by helping others overcome their troubles.

Main Performance

Jacqueline Fritschi-Cornaz delivers what could be interpreted as a bit of feminist take on Mother Teresa, portraying her passion commendably, but lacking somewhat in the traditional submission of a nun’s calling. This results, for example, in a strident tone during a classroom debate with her girls about rape and abortion, which, while understandable if you agree that all life is precious, won’t do much to dispel any critics wishing to roll their eyes at the in-your-face lecturing tendency of faith-based films.

On the other hand, the tone is justifiable, seeing as how, when Mother Teresa brings an injured women, at death’s door, to the church door, the priest castigates her for seeking help and adds insult to injury by making fun of her self-designed nun’s habit, into the bargain.

Origins

“Mother Teresa & Me” was inspired by lead actress Ms. Fritschi-Cornaz’s trip to India and her experience interacting with the poor. Soon after, financers Thierry Cagianut and Richard Fritschi founded The Zariya Foundation to fund the the film. The foundation hopes to inspire audiences around the world with positive values such as compassion, kindness, respect, and love.

Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity eventually had, according to Mary Poplin’s  ”Finding Calcutta: What Mother Teresa Taught Me About Meaningful Work and Service,” 4,500 nuns spread across 133 countries as of 2012. In 2016, Mother Teresa was canonized by the Catholic Church as St. Teresa of Calcutta. “Mother Teresa & Me” is uniquely, entirely, financed by donations. The film’s profits will be donated to charitable institutions.

Tickets are available at participating theater box offices. For a complete list of theater locations, visit the Fathom Events website at FathomEvents.com/events/Mother-Teresa-and-Me

Movie poster for "Mother Teresa & Me." The Zariya Foundation

‘Mother Teresa And Me’ Director: Kamal Musale Starring: Jacqueline Fritschi-Cornaz, Banita Sandhu, Shobu Kapoor, Liza Sadovy, Kevin Mains MPAA Rating: Not Rated Running Time: 2 hour, 6 minutes Release Date: Oct. 5, 2023 Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

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