Mother Teresa
A conundrum and an enigma, few people, if any, know the real woman behind the striped blue sari. On the surface, Mother Teresa seems too good to be true; a one-dimensional prototype of the modern saint. A little deeper, the contradictions and hypocrisy emerge. Those that are content to stop here see her as little more than an imposter, capitalizing on her accidental good fortune. It is not easy to understand the ‘whys’ of Mother Teresa, but to get closer to the answer, one must shut out pre-conceived notions about right and wrong and their idea of what a Missionary of Charity is or should be.
Mother Teresa was a pencil in the hands of God; she often remarked that if God had told her what was to happen after she picked up the first dying person off the streets of Calcutta; she would have never done it, for she would have been too afraid.
To all effect, Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu, the diminutive nun from Albania was an ordinary person that wanted to do good. As Mother Teresa, she came to embody compassion, humility, dedication and honour. Few can claim to have made a bigger impact on attitudes towards poverty or charity, or done more for the Earth’s wretched. Mother did not take poverty to mean only a lack of material possessions–to her, it was also a void created by neglect and abandonment and she made it her life’s work to fill that emptiness with unadulterated love and kindness.
This is the story of an unremarkable woman with greatness thrust upon her. A woman who did nothing but obey the will of God, and in doing so, changed the world. The intention of the film is not to glorify Mother Teresa but on the contrary, to humanize her. The film attempts to juxtapose her struggles, her doubts, and her inner conflicts with her efforts, dedication and achievements. The film follows her life journey that begins in 1946 on September 10th or what is also called the ‘Inspiration Day’ when, on a train to Darjeeling, Mother heard the call of God.