Culture

Letters to Father Jacob is a Finnish subtitled film set in the 1970s, about a thick-skinned ex-convict named Leila and her experience working with Father Jacob. The recipient of a life sentence (presumably murder, though it is never explicitly stated), Leila is given a pardon (much to her disgust) and freed from prison. With nowhere to go, a live-in position is arranged for her in a rundown old house where she is assigned to assist an old visually impaired clergyman, Father Jacob. Jacob appears to have a good reputation, and receives mail each day from troubled individuals asking for prayer. Leila’s job is to read this mail out to him and answer them as he directs her.

What you expect to follow is a heart-warming tale of redemption, renewal, and rehabilitation of a formerly remorseless convict. What actually follows is 74 minutes of static and unsympathetic character development as we watch Leila hide the Father’s mail, leave him stranded alone in an old church for hours, and generally treat a nice old man like a leper. Leila has no respect for humankind, let alone the importance of the letters in Jacob’s life, and makes no effort to sugar-coat this fact in his presence. What starts out as a boring film soon becomes a burden on everyone watching it, as we are forced to endure the aggravation of the film’s main protagonist. The lucky guy sitting two seats away from me managed to fall asleep at the start and saved himself the torture as he snored loudly for the duration of the film.

Frankly, the trailers before the movie were the most entertaining part of my visit to the cinema, before we were all subjected to an inconsequential snooze fest.

zero stars