OVP: The Two Popes (2019)

Film: The Two Popes (2019)
Stars: Jonathan Pryce, Anthony Hopkins
Director: Fernando Meirelles
Oscar History: 3 nominations (Best Actor-Jonathan Pryce, Supporting Actor-Anthony Hopkins, Adapted Screenplay)
Snap Judgment Ranking: 3/5 stars

We have miraculously reviewed all but one of the films nominated for the Big 8 this year for the Academy Awards (huzzah!), but I am a perfectionist and needed to get this one out ASAP (a bit of housekeeping-we'll get to Star Wars for sure over the next couple of days, and then I'll be catching & sharing my thoughts on (from the sounds of it) six of the remaining OVP films that are nominated for the 2019 Oscars, with just Corpus Christi and Maleficent 2 having to wait until post the ceremony).  That leaves us with our final one, a movie that did surprisingly well with Oscar, The Two Popes.  Nominated for three (and did anyone else think this might be a surprise inclusion for Best Picture considering its strength while watching the announcement?), the movie has gained a bit of controversy as pretty much anything surrounding the Catholic Church does.  As a Catholic who deeply disagrees with the church's stances on a few key tenets, I was curious to see what the movie would stir in me.

(Spoilers Ahead) The movie works in three acts.  The first is a look at what happened in the days after the death of John Paul II, when it appeared that Joseph Ratzinger (aka Pope Benedict XVI aka Anthony Hopkins) would win the papacy over his closest rival for the title Jorge Bergoglio (aka Pope Francis aka Jonathan Pryce).  The movie shows that Benedict was seen as a vote for conservatism, while Francis was a vote for change.  Benedict of course won, but years later we see him calling Francis to the Vatican, Francis intending to resign but Benedict refuses to let him.  The two converse, sometimes on trivial matters, sometimes on graver ones, and it is revealed that Benedict intends to resign, the first person to do so in over 600 years.  Though he doesn't endorse, it seems clear to Benedict that he is talking to the man who will be his successor, and who will change the papacy in a number of ways that he disagrees with, but perhaps must be done.  The film ends with Francis becoming the new pope, and Benedict looking on approvingly (before they cut to the mandatory video of the real-life versions of the two men greeting each other).

The film is lighter than you'd assume given the gravity of the two men's positions in the world.  They are not god, of course, but in the Catholic Church they are the holders of the "keys of the kingdom," and hold a deeply spiritual place in the hearts of every Catholic (you pray for them at virtually every mass).  So it's unusual and humanizing to see them discussing art, soccer, and the Beatles as the movie progresses.  I think Pryce & Hopkins take to this levity-it'd be a dreary tale if it was solely focused on the public perceptions of these men, some of which deify them and others of which view them as innately evil.

The movie struggles, though, to take these cute old men and put the real-life consequences of their actions in front of us.  Instead of focusing on recent scandals, specifically the sexual abuse allegations levied at a number of priests, including some within Benedict's inner-circle, they spend more time looking at the early life of Pope Francis, and his controversial role during the Argentine dictatorship.  The criticism against the film is valid in that it ignores these moments, giving Benedict literal and figurative absolution for his involvements in these crimes.  It helps that they cast Hopkins, someone who is so good at fire-and-brimstone, to speak lines other actors might be crushed by, proclaiming "I can no longer hear God!" but the film never feels important or telling enough of these men-it simply shows them, and hopes that you'll not think too clearly about the (living) doppelgangers portrayed in the movie.