The Letter
**Seen for the 2021 Atlanta Film Festival.
There’s a lot to process when it comes to “The Letter.” The first thing that comes to mind is the fact that conspiracy and religious panic is not a unique American experience, but if you’ve been paying attention, you probably know that. Recently on my live stream I discussed how two recent documentary projects- “Q: Into the Storm” and “A Glitch in the Matrix”- dive into the world of alternate realities, and ways of seeing reality, but I did not expect a third documentary, in this one by Chris King and Maia Lekow, to add to my thinking in it. This might be the most unsettling one of all, because it reveals a dark reality in Kenya that does not appear to be dissipating anytime soon.
A Facebook post has inspired Karisa Kaladze to return home to Kenya to see his grandmother. She has received a death threat, and been called a witch. Apparently, this is not a rare occurrence in the rural area where Karisa’s family resides in, so much so that blood has been shed, and families have been torn apart; not everyone in Karisa’s family is on his grandmother’s side. What he will discover is that, as Christianity and Islam have entered the country and culture, old religious and spiritual practices have become out of favor, and- because of the fervor of young preachers- elders in communities have been labeled witches. Is this simply superstition, or is there something more nefarious that is a part of this?
Over the past couple of years, with the rise of the QAnon movement, I’ve also become fascinated in the era of Satanic Panic in 1980s America, which was not just about evil games or music, but tied in to beliefs of satanic ritual abuse occurring to children, beliefs goaded on by fervent evangelical preachers who were not keen on the changes happening in American society. Watching the story unfold in “The Letter,” I could not help but look at what is happening in Kenya as their Satanic Panic. While they do not necessarily look at what is happening in the country as a whole, and only get hints of what might be provoking this panic, there’s plenty in Karisa’s personal story with his family, and his village, to see that this is not an outlier case, and it is chilling. King and Lekow have not made a dark or depressing film, however; Karisa’s grandmother and he share many tender moments throughout the story, his family is engaging and personable, and a religious “cleansing” of his grandmother’s house has plenty of entertaining moments in it.
One of the most enlightening parts of “The Letter” comes when Karisa and the filmmakers are taken to “Kaya Godhoma.” It is a sacred place, separated by nature, where several elders have taken refuge after being branded for witchcraft. It’s there where we get some of the most painful realities of this moral panic that has engulfed Karisa’s family. The motivation for these accusations isn’t just about issues of faith, or new religion vs. old practices, but economic theft. These people are being threatened out of their homes, and their communities, for their land, so that resources can be grown, and financial gain can be made. Are economic assets worth splitting up families? Even in Kenya, it appears the message of God can be corrupted in the name of the almighty dollar.
