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The Most Cinematic Confession Ever: A Review of Netflix Film ‘The Two Popes’

The film, which is based on true events, is the story of Pope Benedict and Pope Francis, one fateful conversation that turned the tide and created a huge shift in the Catholic faith.

I am lucky to have seen the Netflix original movie ‘The Two Popes’ in the big screen in the recent Cinema One Originals Film Festival. The movie, directed by ‘City of God’ and ‘The Constant Gardener’ director Fernando Meirelles, wonderfully builds two character studies against the backdrop of the indulgences of the Catholic church and its riches while managing to amplify the magic and wonders of faith.

As a person who doesn’t practice any religion, and I don’t subscribe to the idea of any organized religion, I was immediately attracted to Meirelles fascination for capturing the excesses of the religious institution that is at the core of his film. The rituals, the amount of money at their disposal, and the hypocrisy of some of their teachings are put in the forefront and, on the big screen, the effect is magnificent.

Photo: Peter Mountain / Netflix

But the film also manages to pinpoint precisely why religion can be such a powerful concept: this magnificent belief in hope and salvation and redemption. It is humanized by a brilliant script by Anthony McCarten and brought to life by the tremendous performances of Jonathan Pryce and Anthony Hopkins.

The film, which is based on true events, is the story of Pope Benedict and Pope Francis, one fateful conversation that turned the tide and created a huge shift in the Catholic faith. While the film attempts to create context by showing Pope Benedict’s ascent into the papacy and then fast-forwarding to a visit by, at the time, Cardinal Bergoglio before he becomes Pope Francis.

Photo: Peter Mountain / Netflix

Within those few days, a conversation becomes a confession and Pope Benedict and Pope Francis are both made absolutely vulnerable as cinematically possible through the most nuanced of dialogues and spoken through the most brilliant of actors. The 125-minute movie becomes a deconstruction of faith and a battle of wills over how properly one is to interpret the Bible and the teachings found within.

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This is a debate between hard-right conversative dogma versus liberal and progressive Jesuit ideology and Meirelles brings the camera straight into Hopkins’ and Pryce’s faces, showing both character’s conviction and doubt and humanity. Other times, it hides behind plants, finds strange angles behind furniture to create the feeling that we are just listening in on a conversation we were not meant to hear.

But we can hear it and it is powerful and moving. It is a debate that becomes a discussion that shifts so subtly — and without warning — into a confession that at some point, I was crying because it was so fully-charged with emotions. It creeps up on you and you are brought there by these two amazing actors’ performances.

Photo: Peter Mountain / Netflix

It’s incredible, really, how a film about one very long discussion can be so visual and symbolic and yet so authentic. Meirelles makes full use of the grand imagery of the Pope’s summer villa and the gorgeous frescoes and paintings of The Vatican and the Sistine Chapel. As Pope Benedict and the future Pope Francis argue over the meaning of what is in the Bible, we see the backdrop of all the artwork of saints and angels but, at the same time, the indulgences and richness of the Catholic church.

It is funny and ironic and yet it is also sensitive and tender with regards to the faith. It’s positioning of both Pope Benedict and Pope Francis as opposites but coming together at the very end for the wonderful climax completes a wonderful story about redemption and forgiveness from two people we can’t possibly imagine needing it most.

 

My Rating:

 

The Two Popes launches globally on Netflix this December 20, 2019. For updates, visit its official Netflix page.

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