Movie Review: The Two Popes
Reviewing this at the request of a fellow Catholic and friend who bugged me for months to watch this. Knowing what I know about Netflix I had little interest in seeing their very obviously biased take on the subject of the Church. I was told that my assumptions would be proven wrong if I gave the film a chance. Sadly this was not the case at all. The film is meant to portray the tumultuous relationship between Pope Benedict XVI and Archbishop Bergoglio, now the current Pope Francis.
I’ll give the film credit where it is due though. Anthony Hopkins and Jonathan Pryce are both a delight to watch interact on screen. Pryce embodies Bishop Bergoglio with a lively Argentinian charm, and Hopkins’ Pope Benedict is a wonderful mix of wit and wisdom. It was a lot of fun seeing them watch the World Cup together. Their conversations are entertaining if not terribly believable. As a fictionalization of contemporary church personalities the film works okay.
The core problem though is that the film clearly wants to be taken seriously and literally. It is structured as a hero’s journey for Bishop Bergoglio as he goes from rebuked outsider to noble activist and eventually celebrated hero. The moral premise of the movie is that the Church must modernize and focus on social justice. This view may be common among liberals and nonbelievers, but it is certainly not the default position among devout Catholics. The Two Popes does not even try to accurately portray the debate between modernist and traditional Christians and instead paints Pope Benedict as a one-dimensional antagonist holding back needed reform due to his own personal guilt. This is an incredibly deceptive portrayal and I say this as someone who greatly appreciates Pope Francis and frequently defends him in conversations with more conservative Catholics.
Cardinal Barron made a number of good related points on the caricatured portrayal of Pope Benedict. I have to emphasize though that the thing that bothers me is that all of it is presented as if it is historically accurate and somehow not pushing a particular secular normative view of how the Church ought to operate. While it may not be overt propaganda, it is still a dishonest treatment of an important subject. No religion or community deserves that, no matter the stature of the actors involved.
Grade: D
