St. Teresa of Avila

A powerful epic mini-series shot on location in Spain that tells the story of one of the most amazing women in history, St. Teresa of Avila. With meticulous attention to detail and historical accuracy, outstanding production values, and an incredible performance by actress Concha Velasco as Teresa, this acclaimed major film production is the definitive film on the life of this great saint. Teresa of Avila was called by God to reform and renew the Carmelite order, a daunting task.

She was joined in this work by her great fellow Carmelite and spiritual director, St. John of the Cross. This film reveals the conversion that Teresa herself had to go thru to deepen her own union with Christ as she endeavored to bring about that same deeper spiritual reform of her Carmelite order. It shows the tremendous opposition that she and John both faced within (and without) their order to bring about this much needed spiritual renewal. She and John of the Cross were both great mystics who combined the essential dimensions of a profound spiritual life with the very practical aspects of being completely dedicated to the human tasks necessary for such a reform. In Spanish with English subtitles.

The other key to the film's success is the well directed script's unflinching realism and honesty. Those with only superficial exposure to the great Spanish mystics, Teresa and John of the Cross, may be surprised and shocked by the film's early tackling of the saint's youthful faults and follies head on. Simply, an American audience has ingested way too much cliched spiritual junk food in the form of lard-coated Hollywood "epics" ala The Greatest Story Ever Told, The Ten Commandments, and the like, unfortunately now celebrated as "the golden days" by certain Christian and Catholic venues. We Catholics also had our very own turkeys, with child mystics portrayed like cutesy American kids next door in films based on Fatima and Lourdes, not even to mention the Bing Crosby/Barry Fitzgerald singing priest sagas, which at least had the excuse of being pure entertainment. Recent "instant biographies" on film of figures like Mother Theresa and John Paul 2 haven't helped, either. The way to paradise, in any of these clunkers, is indistinquishable from Dorothy's Yellow Brick Road in Oz, and the central "saint" figure virtually untistinguishable from Dorothy.

This film was made a couple decades ago and retains the freshness of yesterday. One suspects it will look the same way 50 years from now. It sets a new standard for Catholic cinema, an Everest (or perhaps, more accurately, a treacherous K2) which will reduce any other "religious" film you have ever seen to foothills.

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