The Letter is a 2022 release that seeks to animate Laudato Si’, Pope Francis’ encyclical. It follows four individuals identified as integral voices to this dialogue: Arouna, a climate refugee from Senegal and the voice of the poor; Chief Cacique, a chief in the Amazon and the voice of the Indigenous; Ridhima, a teenaged climate activist from India and the voice of the youth; and Greg and Robin, climate scientists from Hawaii and the voice of the wildlife and nature.
The movie is available for free on YouTube, and full links and resources are nicely organized here at theletterfilm.org.
Here’s one idiot’s thoughts:
Laudato Si’ Movement organizer Lorna Gold, who features in this process, says that the unique trait of this effort is the intentionality of bringing in voices from specific backgrounds to create a distinct representation. And I’d say she’s right. At one point, the group is described as a choir that must sing together to bring full exposure to climate change.
Francis convenes and joins this dialogue that seeks to draw upon the experience of the poor, Indigneous, young, and natural. As the film takes you through the background of each representative, you gain a sense of how these really may be the four most crucial and relevant areas to understanding and responding to the impacts of climate change.
Additionally, the interplay between these representatives propels the viewer to engaging places. For instance, when Chief Cacique consoles Arouna, it is a powerful contrast to begin with. The chief sits rock-solid and stoic in almost every shot, and he speaks with a deliberate, steady tone; conversely, Arouna is a lanky, expressive gentleman who is more animated in gestures and facial expressions, and we even see him break down to the point of tears. The chief brings new expression to Catholic Social Teaching solidarity as he rallies the group in response to Arouna’s tragedy and pain: not only must we see his pain as our pain, Cacique explains, but we must also respond and fight together while he is still breathing and fighting himself.
The way he builds upon shared sorrows and joys to even say it must be a shared – and urgent – action is impeccable.
Willful Ignorance
Francis is so adept at preaching, delivering profound messages in accessible language and with a particular flavor of metaphor.
The one that sticks with me from this film is his bit on building. He starts with the Tower of Babel, and he jokes he has no idea how high they meant to build it – but implies they surely wanted to go much higher than needed. Then, he turns to the materials and process. He points out that if a worker drops a brick and it shatters, then the worker is beaten and ridiculed – such negligence is wasteful of material! Yet, if a worker is injured and dies while building, the worker is simply replaced, and the project continues, likely uninterrupted.
My takeaway is that we become enslaved to the need for progress that must come at any cost. And this enslavement is so pronounced that we lose track of the human cost with our narrow-sightedness. Even if we remain aware of resource utilization (or over-utilization), we often overlook or ignore human impacts. When it comes to climate change, then, he thinks we are unable to stop ourselves from forcing along progress so aggressively, that we won’t acknowledge the destruction of the earth or the impact on our sisters and brothers.
Francis says, simply, “Nature is starting to complain. Nature is screaming, ‘Stop!’” We don’t listen. We damage the earth. And we push communities and nations toward disaster and meanwhile willfully ignore it.
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| from TheLetterFilm.org |
Afflict the Comfortable
As someone who is an ideological moderate – and a bit of an introverted non-confrontationist – I will admit that I sometimes shy away from more radical folks or more radical ideas. Yet, I know, even in my little moderate heart, that certain moments call for more pronounced responses. Incrementalism and compromise don’t always fit the bill, even if they’re a good operative mindset!
Francis says, “Every revolution is constructive, and when you are settled, that is hard to imagine. The young can raise their voices.”
Francis is certainly a rabble-rouser, someone who is sometimes too traditional for progressive-minded folks and often too change-oriented for traditional-minded folks. I appreciate the nuance he offers here – bring change that’s not just change for change’s sake but rather a change that is constructive. And let it come from those who aren’t so settled in their ways that they become blinded to its necessity.
Francis seems to be looking toward the youth in this moment, and he’s certainly right. Those in middle-age and elder years are unlikely to fully appreciate the stakes of problems whose worst consequences are still a few decades away. This is a moment for Gen-X, Millennials, Gen-Z, and those who follow us, to force the issue and band together with like-mindedness around an issue that WILL impact our lives.
And as a parent, I hope the little things I discover can take root in my kids. I have already been delighted to think that my kids will have always gone to school with reusable snack bags and will have had a backyard compost pile as long as they can remember. I hope those foundational habits and the ones we develop and add over time can shape a mindset that sees these issues and the needed responses with the proper urgency and solemnity.
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