This attempt to both contextualise and big-up the radical vision of current Catholic leader, Pope Francis, proves so effective it deserves to spawn a new word: pope-ulism.
City of God director, Fernando Meirelles, wants us to believe that global figures can be popular, tolerant and inclusive. Thanks to a nimble script, zippy visuals and the superlative Jonathan Pryce, it’s a pleasure to fall into line.
We get to know Jorge Mario Bergoglio (Pryce) via his relationship with Germany’s John Ratzinger aka scandal-ridden conservative, Pope Benedict XVI (Anthony Hopkins, just perfect as a tyrant who’s simultaneously bloated and beady-eyed).
The Cardinal and the Pope hang out in Benedict’s summer palace and potter around the Vatican. They’re funny guys (honestly, Ratzinger delivers zingers, with charming gaucheness), but we’re never allowed to forget the horrors that Catholicism has condoned and/or unleashed.
There’s also a brilliant moment where Bergoglio hears his superior’s confession and Ratzinger’s words suddenly become inaudible. The German, you suspect, still has skeletons hidden in his closet. In years to come, viewers will be able to fill in that blank and The Two Popes may gain a whole new dimension.
Some critics have slammed this film for being too cosy. To them I say, o ye of little faith. Meirelles has made an intelligent and moving tragi-comedy, one that’s built to last.
