One of Netflix’s several Oscar nominees this year, The Two Popes looks at the real-life story of Pope Benedict and Pope Francis’ friendship during their consecutive reigns. There is a very documentary, fly-on-the-wall feel to the whole style of the film with the close-up camera angles during conversations, and disarming moments of pop music and jokes which break up the tension of the highly organised religious practices.
It is interesting despite being a simply structured plot of a man trying to retire from his job and being based on a true story so the events are already familiar. The actual scandal of sex abuse within the Catholic church is perhaps glossed over and downplayed too much in favour of the focus on the two men’s friendship.
Contrasting personalities of Jonathan Pryce and Anthony Hopkins’ characters present the ideas of new and old, conservative and liberal in relation to the church’s views. In particular, it relates the film to current issues like distribution of wealth, division through hate, in Pope Francis’ speeches. These men, who are regarded so highly as powerful and pious men, are humanised in this film, through their conversations and interests (like piano playing and watching football). Ultimately, the moral of the film is that we are all flawed humans, even those regarded by some as the closest to perfection that anyone can be, and that’s perfectly fine.
‘The Two Popes’ is available to stream on Netflix.
Pep Reviews 