Directed by: Fernando Meirelles
Starring: Jonathan Pryce, Anthony Hopkins, Juan Minujin
One of the strengths of The Two Popes is how it rightfully treats its subjects as human beings first. While treated as godlike, popes are indeed human and fallible. Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio (Pryce), who would soon succeed the retiring Benedict XVI as Pope, finds himself sneaking out to a local Rome sports bar to see his beloved Argentina soccer team play on television. Benedict (Hopkins) plays piano. The men quickly discuss ABBA as Jorge whistles Dancing Queen while both stand next to each other at the men's room sink. Among the most amusing sequences in The Two Popes is witnessing Pope Francis and former Pope Benedict watching the 2014 World Cup Final as Francis' Argentina took on Benedict's home country of Germany. Germany won by the way.
The Two Popes, written by Anthony McCarten, documents a budding friendship between outgoing Pope Benedict XVI and Cardinal Begoglio, who is considered a shoo-in to be elected Pope upon Benedict's retirement. But, a pope can't retire, right? Not so, says Benedict, who says a pope once retired in the 1400's so such a move is not unprecedented. Benedict's papacy was coming under intense scrutiny circa 2013 as a damaging book is released depicting the pope's alleged complicity in covering up pedophilia among priests in the Catholic Church. Benedict is choosing to retire at age 86, instead handing off the papacy to the more progressive Bergoglio. This isn't without issue, because the cardinal is submitting his resignation in person to Benedict. Benedict tries to talk Bergoglio out of retirement and convince him that he is worthy of being the next pope at the same time.
The arc of their meeting at first is a clash between Benedict's more conservative, traditional ideas of the Catholic faith and Bergoglio's more liberal and forward thinking. Then, there is the thaw as the two men have dinner together and share their more personal stories. Bergoglio feels guilty about his past involvement with a late 1970's dictatorship. He did not speak out against the government, but yet saved thousands of lives by staying alive to assume the role of leader of the nation's large Jesuit priest contingent. He used his authority to save many, but he feels he did not do enough. Benedict offers him figurative absolution by telling him "You're only human," but Bergoglio delivers actual absolution as Benedict confesses his sins. What sins? The movie never tells us, but we surely can speculate.
The Two Popes is elevated by the spectacular acting of Pryce and Hopkins, both nominated for Oscars for their work. Each is willing to, at times, concede the spotlight and stand back to watch the other shine. At first, you think The Two Popes will be a tiresome argument of old vs. new in Catholicism (I think back to 1984's little seen Mass Appeal starring Jack Lemmon), but instead we learn more about these two men and find they aren't all that dissimilar after all. Both men treasure their faith while copping to the fact that they are mortal and capable of sin, and that maybe the church should ease up on its outdated restrictions in order to lure people back to the church. The most effective moments of The Two Popes involve flashbacks to Bergoglio's life years earlier, in which he refused to marry his beloved in order to join the priesthood, and how his story takes a drastic turn when a violent dictatorship assumes control of Argentina.
The Two Popes does overstay its welcome near the end. It could've been more taut in some spots, and perhaps a bit angrier about the role the upper echelon of the Vatican played in the church's most heinous scandal in its history. The Two Popes, instead, decides to be more personal and it is not an unworthy decision.
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