The Two Popes

After seeing the Golden Globe Award nominations included The Two Popes, I thought I should give this new Netflix docu-drama a chance.  Although I'm not a religious man (but married in a Catholic church and both my children are baptized), I was curious about the history and the mystique of the papacy.  Of course, I also went into the film with some trepidation due to the many serious sexual misconduct charges and crimes that continue to damage the church's status and teachings.

I loved it.  I was amazed how the filmmakers got access to the real-world locations and the cinematography was simply stunning.  I was also incredibly impressed by Hopkins' and Pryce's acting in as many as 4 different languages (English, Italian, Spanish and Latin - Hopkins' also spoke German in the film).  Their portrayals of the two famous popes was magnificent.  I'm not certain how close to reality it was, but I really like how we got to learn something behind their grand public personas, how different they are and how "normal" they could be.  I kept asking myself, who in the Vatican approved this film, how did they get the access to these very special places.  The inclusion of real-world TV footage and social media bits was a nice balance with the fictional and speculative elements.  And how did they handle the controversy? - quite well I think - some may say too soft, but it was enough to say there are serious issues underfoot, but not enough to distract from the beauty of their world and the touching human story.  Even the soundtrack was lovely, who knew Pope Benedict was a gifted pianist.  And bring in some Argentina versus Germany footy and you get a tasty mix of art, history, geography, humanity, religion, news, drama and personal reflection.  Well done 9/10.