The Two Popes: An unconventional buddy film

The Two Popes, director Fernando Meirelles’ (City of God) intimate story about one of the most dramatic transitions of power within the Catholic Church in the last 2,000 years, stars Jonathan Pryce as Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio and Academy Award-winning Anthony Hopkins as Pope Benedict XVI. It’s a biographical drama written by Anthony McCarten (The Theory of Everything), based on his 2017 play The Pope, and inspired by true ecclesiastical events.

The film debuted at the Telluride Film Festival last August and was also screened at the Toronto International Film Festival in September. It’s scheduled for a limited U.S. release on November 27 and opens in the U.K. on November 29. Digital screening on Netflix begins December 20. Bryce Dessner of the band The National scored the soundtrack for the film.

Behind Vatican walls, this 125-minute film in English with a variety of subtitles (Latin, Spanish, Italian, French, Portuguese and German) portrays two very different men caught up in a struggle between tradition and progress, between guilt and forgiveness – and how each confront their past in order that they may find a common theological ground amidst political turmoil in the Catholic Church in which to forge a future for more than a billion worldwide followers.

We learn of the popular Argentinian Cardinal Bergoglio, a lover of both international football and tango – the future Pope Francis – who requests permission from Pope Benedict in 2012 to retire, doubting his ability to remain a “salesman” for Catholic values. This is happening at a time when the introspective Pope Benedict is facing scandal and self-doubt. So, he summons the man who is his harshest critic – and future successor – to come to Rome “to reveal a secret that would shake the foundations of the Catholic Church.”

While the film is historic fiction and focuses on a series of serious conversations about human understanding and fallibility – and through flashbacks, we learn much about Bergoglio’s Jesuit background and how he became a beloved figure in Argentina – there are moments of humor and surprise, none better than two popes sharing a pizza and a Fanta inside the Vatican while debating the future direction of the Catholic Church. Topical social and cultural subjects such as homosexuality, abortion, divorce, sexual abuse among priests, climate change and economic inequality are discussed – sometimes heatedly – between the two pontiffs.

Looking back, it didn’t bother me that much of what we see in this relevant film – the conversations between Benedict and Francis – is purely speculative and may not have actually happened, such as one the two share in a helicopter ride together.

Pope Benedict: “What is that plant?”
Cardinal Bergoglio: ”It’s oregano. Your gardener gave it to me.”
Pope Benedict: ”You’re very popular”
Cardinal Bergoglio: ”I just try to be myself.”
Pope Benedict: ”When I try to be myself, people don’t like me very much.”

Sure, Benedict was portrayed in the film as physically ailing and tired – “I cannot play this role anymore” – unable “to hear the voice of God.” While he is shown having a cordial relationship with the younger, more energetic and thoughtful bishop throughout the film, did he really pick Cardinal Bergoglio to be his chosen successor? Probably not. However, the friendship that is forged between the two seems genuine and both Hopkins and Pryce give tremendous acting performances in their respective roles. The visual direction (think Saint Peter’s Basilica and Square) is so very beautiful and stunning, especially the staging of the papal conclaves inside the Sistine Chapel that take place in the selection of both Pope Benedict and Pope Francis.

“Being Pope, you must remember you are not God,” Hopkins reminds Pryce. “You are only human.”

As one film critic recently suggested, “Like us, our spiritual leaders can be haunted by doubt and questions of belief. But it’s our humanity and differences that bring everybody together, sometimes over a World Cup match and beer.”

Credits: Cover photo – Courtesy Netflix. Videos – Courtesy YouTube.

On "Miss Sarajevo"

Sarajevo is a city that is historically famous not only for hosting the 1984 Olympic Winter Games, but also for its traditional cultural and religious diversity. There aren't many places in the world where adherents of Islam, Orthodoxy, Catholicism and Judaism have coexisted for centuries. Thanks to its its long and rich history of religious diversity, Sarajevo has often been called the "Jerusalem of Europe".

Scene from the documentary
Miss Sarajevo

And, yet, it's not too far in the past that this leading social, political and cultural center of the current Bosnia and Herzegovina, was entangled from 1992 to 1996 in the Bosnian War.

The Siege of Sarajevo, the longest siege in the history of modern warfare, resulted in large scale destruction as thousands of Sarajevans lost their lives as a result of the constant bombarding and sniper shooting at civilians by Serb forces, whose goal was the creation of a new Serbian State of Republika Srpska that would include a portion of the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Nearly 12,000 people lost their lives during the Siege of Sarajevo, including over 1,500 children. Additionally, 56,000 people were wounded, including nearly 15,000 children.

Thanks to the passing of time, today, Sarajevo has become one of the fastest developing cities in southeastern Europe. And, yet, I was reminded recently, thanks to hearing Scott Simon's homily entitled "Bosnia Remembers When the World Looked Away" on NPR's Weekend Edition Saturday, last Friday (April 5) marked the 20th anniversary of the start of the Bosnian War.

"The world saw the 'ethnic cleansing' of Muslims and mixed-ethnic people in vivid color. But Europeans looked and saw the ghosts of World War I. Americans saw the ghosts of Vietnam. We changed channels," said Simon, during his NPR commentary.

U2's "Miss Sarajevo" played in the background at the conclusion of Simon's commentary. Hearing this somber tune piqued my interest. I searched the Internet to find a video of the song and to further read about its background and use in the Bill Carter documentary film Miss Sarajevo.

In the words of U2's Bono, he said: "The camera follows the organizers through the tunnels and cellars of the city, giving a unique insight into life during a modern war, where civilians are the targets. The film captures the dark humour of the besieged Sarajevans, their stubborn refusal to be demoralized and suggests that surrealism and Dadaism are the appropriate responses to fanaticism."

Carter's goal was to expose people to the individuals living through the war. "The war is just a backdrop, it could be any war," he said. "The point is the vitality of the human spirit to survive, (to) laugh, to love, and to move on, that is something we will be addressing always."

The song "Miss Sarajevo" not only protested the war in Bosnia. It also criticized the international community for its inability to stop the war or help those who were affected by it.

Bono went on to say that he felt the lyrics to the U2 song, "Miss Sarajevo", reflected what the people of Sarajevo were feeling at the time. It is sung with passion and conviction, and it also includes a solo by the great Italian opera tenor Luciano Pavarotti. The song's lyrics include:

... Is there a time to walk for cover
A time for kiss and tell
Is there a time for different colors
Different names you find it hard to spell

Is there a time for first communion
A time for East 17
Is there a time to turn to Mecca
Is there a time to be a beauty queen. ...

"Over 44 months of war, Sarajevans refused the appeals of governments and prestigious international groups to divide their country into ethnic enclaves," said Simon, at the conclusion of his NPR commentary. "I remember a Bosnian government minister saying, 'After all these centuries trying to build civilization, are we to go back to being tribes?' ... While the world looked away from them, Sarajevans dug a tunnel. They stood up for civilization."

And so, on an autumn night in 1995 in Modena, Italy, with Bono and the other members of U2 beside him, Pavarotti sang with a raw emotion:


Dici che il fiume
Trova la via al mare
E come il fiume
Giungerai a me
Oltre i confini
E le terre assetate
Dici che come il fiume
Come il fiume...
L'amore giungerá
L'amore
E non so piú pregare
E nell'amore non so piú sperare
E quell'amore non so piú aspettare


As I reflect upon this dark and somber period with the help of perspective, thanks to U2 and Scott Simon, one thing seems certain: Sarajevans indeed stood up for civilization.