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.

A darkly comedic tale, "I, Tonya" never plays for laughs

With the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics just two months away, the release of Craig Gillespie's film "I, Tonya," a very dark, comedic tale of American figure skater Tonya Harding, which is based on the unbelievable but true events of what became one of the most sensational scandals in sporting history, is a very timely one.

I remember the sordid circumstances that played themselves out like an American prime-time soap opera nearly 24 years ago, and in watching a sneak preview of "I, Tonya," Sunday morning in Washington, DC., it all came crashing back to me.

Although Harding was the first American woman figure skater to complete a triple axel in competition, her athletic fete quickly took a backseat. Instead, her legacy became forever defined by her association with "an infamous, ill-conceived, and even more poorly executed attack" on her fellow Olympic competitor Nancy Kerrigan just weeks before the 1994 Winter Olympics.

With an original screenplay written by Steven Rogers and featuring an early '80s soundtrack that will bring back memories, the film features a sympathetic portrayal of the fiery Harding by Margot Robbie, and also stars Sebastian Stan as Harding's conniving and often-abusive ex-husband Jeff Gillooly, and Allison Janney as Harding's acid-tongued, monstrous and outrageous mother LaVona Golden.

"I, Tonya," is at times absurd, other times irreverent. But, it's definitely worth two hours of your entertainment time this holiday season.