It was with some trepidation that my father (Jim), my wife (Katie) , and I sat down to watch "The Two Popes" together. My dad is Catholic and a bit of a study-holic so he had been hearing a few things that worried him about this film even before I asked him if he was interested in watching it together. Some of the more vocal conservative Catholic sources he reads were decrying it as an unfair takedown of Pope Benedict, a real hero to some of the more conservative traditional Catholic community.
If you know my reviews then you know I frequently mention my dad whose standard of historical accuracy is a fair amount higher than mine when it comes to movies and this one was no exception. It certainly glosses over things, dramatizes conversations, and wholecloth imagines private confidences between the two as to break that confidence would be violating the sacrament of confession. Even he, however, found that he could move past these inaccuracies fairly gracefully as the film unfolded, though.
I have no such misgivings about historical inaccuracy in most of my movies and I found this film just as entertaining, informative, challenging, and edifying as I can possibly imagine a movie like this being.
First off, for those who might think this movie looks boring... it is... but not as bad as you might think. It's no slower than any other drama. In fact, the humor of the movie was far more pronounced than I expected. If you'd have told me that I would look over at Katie and see her laughing out loud during a movie about Popes disagreeing with each other I would have accused you of heresy. We often forget that men with power are still men and that they have various shades of senses of humor just like the rest of us. In fact, their differences in humor are one of the things that they speak on and find commonality through. The treatment of humor in "The Two Popes" does a lot to dispel the general idea that religion is serious and for people who think no one should have fun.
As for the heart of the film, I think it is a film that all Christians, even Protestants, and really, everyone else could get a lot out of. For those who don't know about the Popes I will break it down in incredibly simplistic terms (please don't rake me over the coals for not getting into nitty gritty details). Pope Benedict was a conservative Pontiff. Pope Francis is a liberal one. Benedict retired after a short time (relatively) as pope though it is virtually unheard of for someone to do that. During the period in which he was considering this action he met with Cardinal Bergoglio who would become Pope Francis because the Cardinal wanted to resign from being a cardinal. This movie is a glimpse into the time they spent together, getting to know each other, confessing to each other, and debating with each other.
The reason this story is so needed today is because, like the Two Popes, there is a division in the lives of the people in this country and in most communities that doesn't get talked about in constructive ways nearly as often as in destructive ones. The division between conservatives and progressives seems to be growing wider every day till it threatens to tear us apart. Most of the time we end up talking about how one side is right and the other wrong depending on who we agree with and the impression this film gives of the holy men in question is that they were sort of like that. One was conservative and scared of what would become of the church in the hands of a progressive and one was more liberal and disillusioned from service by what he saw as backwards thinking leadership.
How do we move forward together? How do we stand strong together? How do we do both at the same time? The film asks these questions through the characters' conversations and flashbacks from their incredible lives. Each person may glean what they will from this film as far as an answer to those questions but I think the way to do these things is illustrated best in the small moments which we see between Pope Benedict and Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio.
Over the course of several days they begin to see the humanity of the other person and realize that they have both made great errors in their lives and see the need both for forgiveness but also humility. Pride, anger, and a sense of righteous indignation are the enemies of understanding. That isn't to say that they can't accomplish much. Great things for good and evil have been done with those motivations but one thing that never happens through these attitudes is healing. Healing comes by seeking the face of Christ in another. It comes by serving others and voluntarily considering ourselves beneath them. Through these actions we learn to identify with them and while we may not agree with them still, we will not be able to hate them and that changes everything about the answers to those questions.
How do we move forward together? How do we stand strong together? How do we do both at the same time?
The answer is in the question. Together.
If all we try to do is push our progressive/conservative battle to a breaking point where one side wins and the other loses then we have lost sight of the humanity in our enemy. We have stopped caring if they get hurt. We revel when they are publicly humiliated. Their followers are morons who can't put 2 and 2 together.
However, when we commit to finding a way together, we instead have to focus on the person. Even if we disagree with their position we will hear their concerns and, if we truly care, try to alleviate those concerns to the best of our ability so that the way forward is one we can all walk together. For some this will mean patience with people who seem to slow to change and for others willingness to take\ steps forward that seem scary. For everyone, It means caring more about individuals, listening to them, seeking to understand them, and consider their own concerns as important as our own.
If you know my reviews then you know I frequently mention my dad whose standard of historical accuracy is a fair amount higher than mine when it comes to movies and this one was no exception. It certainly glosses over things, dramatizes conversations, and wholecloth imagines private confidences between the two as to break that confidence would be violating the sacrament of confession. Even he, however, found that he could move past these inaccuracies fairly gracefully as the film unfolded, though.
I have no such misgivings about historical inaccuracy in most of my movies and I found this film just as entertaining, informative, challenging, and edifying as I can possibly imagine a movie like this being.
First off, for those who might think this movie looks boring... it is... but not as bad as you might think. It's no slower than any other drama. In fact, the humor of the movie was far more pronounced than I expected. If you'd have told me that I would look over at Katie and see her laughing out loud during a movie about Popes disagreeing with each other I would have accused you of heresy. We often forget that men with power are still men and that they have various shades of senses of humor just like the rest of us. In fact, their differences in humor are one of the things that they speak on and find commonality through. The treatment of humor in "The Two Popes" does a lot to dispel the general idea that religion is serious and for people who think no one should have fun.
As for the heart of the film, I think it is a film that all Christians, even Protestants, and really, everyone else could get a lot out of. For those who don't know about the Popes I will break it down in incredibly simplistic terms (please don't rake me over the coals for not getting into nitty gritty details). Pope Benedict was a conservative Pontiff. Pope Francis is a liberal one. Benedict retired after a short time (relatively) as pope though it is virtually unheard of for someone to do that. During the period in which he was considering this action he met with Cardinal Bergoglio who would become Pope Francis because the Cardinal wanted to resign from being a cardinal. This movie is a glimpse into the time they spent together, getting to know each other, confessing to each other, and debating with each other.
The reason this story is so needed today is because, like the Two Popes, there is a division in the lives of the people in this country and in most communities that doesn't get talked about in constructive ways nearly as often as in destructive ones. The division between conservatives and progressives seems to be growing wider every day till it threatens to tear us apart. Most of the time we end up talking about how one side is right and the other wrong depending on who we agree with and the impression this film gives of the holy men in question is that they were sort of like that. One was conservative and scared of what would become of the church in the hands of a progressive and one was more liberal and disillusioned from service by what he saw as backwards thinking leadership.
How do we move forward together? How do we stand strong together? How do we do both at the same time? The film asks these questions through the characters' conversations and flashbacks from their incredible lives. Each person may glean what they will from this film as far as an answer to those questions but I think the way to do these things is illustrated best in the small moments which we see between Pope Benedict and Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio.
Over the course of several days they begin to see the humanity of the other person and realize that they have both made great errors in their lives and see the need both for forgiveness but also humility. Pride, anger, and a sense of righteous indignation are the enemies of understanding. That isn't to say that they can't accomplish much. Great things for good and evil have been done with those motivations but one thing that never happens through these attitudes is healing. Healing comes by seeking the face of Christ in another. It comes by serving others and voluntarily considering ourselves beneath them. Through these actions we learn to identify with them and while we may not agree with them still, we will not be able to hate them and that changes everything about the answers to those questions.
How do we move forward together? How do we stand strong together? How do we do both at the same time?
The answer is in the question. Together.
If all we try to do is push our progressive/conservative battle to a breaking point where one side wins and the other loses then we have lost sight of the humanity in our enemy. We have stopped caring if they get hurt. We revel when they are publicly humiliated. Their followers are morons who can't put 2 and 2 together.
However, when we commit to finding a way together, we instead have to focus on the person. Even if we disagree with their position we will hear their concerns and, if we truly care, try to alleviate those concerns to the best of our ability so that the way forward is one we can all walk together. For some this will mean patience with people who seem to slow to change and for others willingness to take\ steps forward that seem scary. For everyone, It means caring more about individuals, listening to them, seeking to understand them, and consider their own concerns as important as our own.