A review of a film from the British Film Institute’s London Film Festival 2019 – The Two Popes – which considers the friendship between the current and previous Pontiff.
The Two Popes
Screening Date – Tuesday, 8th October 2019
Pryce and Hopkins have long been two of my acting heroes, so I jumped at the chance to see them spark off each other, as the current and former Popes, respectively.
Whilst not entirely without precedent, it has been centuries since the last Pope voluntarily resigned his office (Celestine V did so in 1294). There has been much speculation as to why Benedict, who was said to have actively campaigned for the position, in stark contrast to the reticent Bergoglio, should wish to step down.
Was Benedict fed up with the quagmire of the Vatican Bank? Or was he despairing over chairing the continuing institutional cover-up of the abuse of children by servants of the Church? Or did he simply have concerns over his failing health? This film is not particularly interested in the answer. Indeed, it chooses to abruptly mute the sound when Benedict makes his confession to Bergolio. Instead, The Two Popes is interested in the contrasts between the two rivals and in their ability to build a bridge across the personal and religious schisms which have opened up between them.
When the film opens, Jorge Bergoglio (Jonathan Pryce) is evidently more at home amongst the people on the busy streets of Buenos Aires, than in dealing with the politicians who machinate in the gaudy, gilded corridors of the Vatican. Bergoglio appears to be disillusioned with the direction of the Catholic Church and, even though he’s a contender for Pope, he does not seem willing to be a ‘team player’. So, when it is Joseph Ratzinger (Anthony Hopkins) who becomes Pope Benedict XVI, Bergoglio genuinely appears to be relieved at the outcome.
Some years later, when circumstances unexpectedly bring the two men together, their clash of ideologies – Benedict is a stickler for tradition, Bergoglio is forward-looking and progressive – suggests that there will be fireworks. The writer, Anthony McCarten (Bohemian Rhapsody), is well-served by the chemistry between Hopkins and Pryce, finding a surprising amount of humour in the epic clash. It refrains from doing a ‘hatchet job’ on Benedict, exploring the skeletons in the cupboards of both men, but there is little doubt as to where McCarten’s sympathies lie.
At a climactic moment, just as Pope Benedict suggests to Bergoglio that he has stopped hearing the voice of God, there was an exquisite moment of serendipity at the screening – the heavens opened and the rain poured loudly on the canvas roof of BFI’s flagship Embankment Gardens Cinema. God affirming that he had indeed abandoned his former representative on Earth? Perhaps.
Whatever your interest in the Catholic faith and its leadership, Pryce and Hopkins are a joy to watch as the Odd Couple Pontiffs. If you miss it on the big screen, catch it on Netflix from 20th December.
Dir Fernando Meirelles
Prod Dan Lin, Jonathan Eirich, Tracey Seaward Scr Anthony McCarten
With Anthony Hopkins, Jonathan Pryce, Juan Minujín
Italy-Argentina
2019
126min
UK Distribution Netflix