The Two Popes - 2019
Updated: Sep 22, 2022
What a beautiful story! In all honesty, I think beautiful is the most apropos word to describe it. It's a movie about religion and this massive, centuries old organized institution of Catholicism, but it's also deeply about friendship. Camaraderie in the most unlikely of places. Two men coming together - one conservative, one progressive. Two men from different countries, Germany and Argentina, with diverging worldviews on issues like marriage, divorce, homosexuality and more. Varied views of where the church is coming from and where it's going. These two even differ on their stances towards living with little luxuries vs. embracing full-on poverty.
Yet they meet in person and chronicle their past - where they came from, and the sins that they committed. Their confession scenes are artfully done and genuinely moving. (Francis' entire backstory, told in picturesque black and white is particularly affecting). All of this only serves to humanize them even more. After days together, they are able to absolve each other to be sure (they ARE priests after all), but also come to this understanding of how they best can help the Church move forward.
Beyond these matters, I loved the way that the film was made. It appears to be lovingly constructed by an insider. There are so many ways that Meirelles could have presented this story. So much of what we see in media today would lambast the Church's sins, or portray Christians as these right wing blowhards. The portrait here, instead, is a very loving one. This is so unique.
The distinct impression I left the film with was one of hope. A conviction was born in me that, if we could just "do" dialogue like this, stop the infighting on social media, the stupid political memes, everything we do to attack one another and break down our human commonalities. Then, we could tear down the walls that become erected between us in those instances. When we, instead, begin to explore our humanity together in honesty and communication, we'd discover how much better the world could be.
To conclude, The Two Popes was impeccably written, well acted, and remarkably presented this deeply human side of the great monolith of organized religion. It's this dance of two men with deep convictions who are also really humbled by their mistakes and life circumstances. As such, it's a movie about hope and love and beauty and friendship, and maybe a way forward in this divided time in which we now find ourselves.
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