The Two Popes, written by Anthony McCarten - Nine out of 10

The Two Popes, written by Anthony McCarten

Nine out of 10

Pope Francis has just been in the news, and not for some challenge to the conservative establishment and doctrine of one of the oldest institutions in the world, representing a community which is larger than one billion, although they talk in this very good movie about the loss of men and women who abandon the Catholic church in the Western world, albeit more seem to adhere in the emerging countries, where they discuss about ways to adapt to difficult circumstances – such as allowing priests to marry in remote parts of the Amazon.

A couple of days ago, around New Year’s Eve, a woman had grabbed the pontiff and he was quite upset about it, apparently slapping her hand twice, only to apologize to her later, in a public sermon, showing again the kindness, gentle nature that we are used with and which is portrayed in this film, nominated for four Golden Globes – to be awarded in a matter of hours…about twelve – including for Best Motion Picture – Drama, Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role for Jonathan Pryce and Supporting Role for Anthony Hopkins, Best Screenplay for Anthony McCarten – and many other important awards…

Jonathan Pryce is memorable as Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio first and then Pope Francis, in a complex role, for if we had known about the modest, friendly side of the leader of more than one billion faithful, we have the chance in this feature to see him mournful, thinking of a tragic past in his home country, Argentina, during which he had tried to balance a concern, protective attitude towards his priests, with the need to allow some Jesuits to continue their work for castaways, which had been stigmatized by the military junta and in his painful actions, the leader of the Jesuit community of the time seems to have helped, although inadvertently, the dictators in their mission of torturing those who oppose them, including the priests that have been temporarily suspended by the younger Bergoglio.

Anthony Hopkins is equally admirable in a character that appears less charming – if at all – than the South American clergy, Cardinal Ratzinger who would become Pope Benedict – a controversial figure, insulted by many as a Nazi, facing multiple challenges, from his statement that appeared to incriminate Islam as a violent faith, to the scandals plaguing the Vatican Bank, pedophilia, people in his entourage and his own tolerant approach to the crimes of priests who have been just moved from one parish to another, after victims had accused them of sexual misconduct or worse, rape, abuse and so on, with the view that it is better for tens or hundreds to suffer, than for millions to lose their faith and ultimately their resurrection after death.

In fact, in one of the many scenes they have together, Benedict would confess to Bergoglio and vice versa, with the former repentant of his role in the ‘cover up’ of so many cases of sexual abuse – though it is not clear if the cardinal Ratzinger just had some of the evidence on his desk and sinfully, abhorrently ignored it or and to what extent he might have been actively engaged in saving the monsters – while Bergoglio talks about what happened during the junta, when he had tried and saved multitudes, but he was still guilty of exposing a few, in his efforts to work with the officers in trying to convince them to let us say execute fewer than they had intended – people who opposed the regime would be summarily shot, clergy included, then they disappeared, apparently thrown from military planes into the ocean, never to be recovered…

The satisfaction of the viewer would be mostly intellectual, although important doses of sentimentalism would be inserted in the plot of a narrative that has the two men confront each other for a good while, only to become excellent friends after some debates, initially they seem to stand for two opposite views of the future of the church, with Benedict an arch conservative and the Argentinian cardinal an exponent of the progressive view – which he has manifested recently, when he showed understanding for homosexuals, divorces and other categories – making Benedict quite upset with the public statements of the South American, who ‘has an answer for everything’…when challenged on the issue of homosexuals, the divorced, Bergoglio retorts with quotes from the scriptures, mentioning the need to help the ones who need it most, the most sinful, or words to that effect.

The question that the public might ask would be how accurate this rendering of private conversations, which might represent 40% of the dialogue, might be, even if, on the other hand the writer does show he has a brilliant imagination and the profiles meet with the public perception – we are not actually shocked by revelations that if we thought Ratzinger to be intellectual, aloof, somewhat cold – anyway, when compared with the Latin counterpart in the film – he turns out to be such an emotional, effervescent, fun loving extroverted man – no, he eats alone – something that Bergoglio does not understand and mentions among the main things he would do differently if he had the role – and enjoys a rather peculiar show on television, Rex, about a German shepherd police dog that solves crimes…

Benedict looks like he has no sense of humor – when he jokes, he has to explain that this was a German joke, so it does not have to be funny and in this case, he is amusing – but apparently under the influence of his warmer, modest, kind friend, he begins to see things differently – he would even watch a football game with Bergoglio, by then Francis, in spite of the fact that he had declared that he had never understood the passion for that game.

The film is better than quite a few of the other nominees for the Golden Globe, such as Knives Out or even Once upon a Time in Hollywood – well, if you ask this cinephile, many others have been enthused and love that Tarantino movie – though it does not rise to the level of Parasite of Portrait of a Lady on fire – both retold at http://realini.blogspot.com/