“The Two Popes”, A Divine & Sublime Movie
Such a delightful movie. Despite its strong religious and historical underpinnings, it mesmerises with dazzling visuals and dialogues, all on the thread of our sometimes beautiful and sometimes tedious human connections.
The Catholic questions of conservatism and liberalism are the main actors here, viewed from the perspectives of two players of the church — the elected & hardlining Pope Benedict against his close rival/alternative, Cardinal Bergoglio. The cardinal, now the current Pope, by catholic standards, is a contrarian, with views that accommodate liberal flexibility above the stringent of orthodoxy.
Whatever the intentions of the producers, it is also a political movie, one that stresses the two typically opposing sides of how we negotiate & orient ourselves in the world. And given the unpredictable ways and attendant tensions of the secular world, the movie questions the world’s biggest Christian “faction”, asking it to redeem & reconcile itself or risk losing its soul (and souls). One is reminded of the Enlightenment century of Western Europe when the church faced threats from liberal and rational forces. The church quite survived that onslaught but at a cost whose renaissance effect continues to reverberate till date.
Some favourite scenes are moments when the film throwbacks to when Bergoglio recollects his pre-clergy love life, including when Ratzinger plays a piano.
The director & producers — Holy Mary bless their souls, deftly reserved close camera shots for intimate conversations between the two characters and saved the wide shots for the glories of the frescos of the Sistine Chapel, St. Peter’s Square etc.
After watching, I fantasised about the chance of having fictionalised versions of African culture heroes in conversations made for digital streaming. Say, Wande Abimbola & Ifayemi Elebuibon, both Babalawos, sharing knowledge about efforts to digitally document African religious and philosophical worldview. Say, Sultan of Sokoto and Matthew Kukah discussing religious and cultural polarities. Or Wole Soyinka and Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, commuting through real African destinations that have featured in their writings while exchanging knowledge for posterity.
I will watch this movie again.
