Film Review: The Two Popes

Originally published December 24, 2019

Movies about crises of faith are common, but rarely do they tackle it from the perspective of the highest positions in the Catholic Church. Fernando Meirelles’ The Two Popes consists almost entirely of an imagined conversation between Popes Benedict XVI (Anthony Hopkins) and Francis (Jonathan Pryce), set just before the former’s resignation. The film initially sets the two as directly opposed, portraying Benedict as the strict conservative and Francis as the liberal reformer. As the movie goes on, the men begin to see more eye-to-eye as they open up about their past and current struggles with God.

The film takes Francis’ side, even when discussing his involvement in the Dirty War in Argentina. Most of the film is dedicated to his perspective and most of the change happens to Benedict. Both characters are still sympathetic. Even if Benedict’s view and reasoning behind his actions aren’t explored to the extent of Francis’ the film’s screenplay makes it easy to understand both characters.

It does this at the expense of understanding the crises of faith these men undergo. The Two Popes spends much of its time setting up its characters and only interrogates them in the final third of its two-hour run time. There are great scenes in that last third. Still, those lines only dig at a surface level and inadvertently remind one of a better cinematic treatise on faith from earlier in the decade (Martin Scorsese’s Silence).

The dialogue is clunky and overt for most of the film, leaving viewers little opportunity to insert themselves or ponder the direction of the Catholic Church and the reaction of a POPE to God’s silence in response to prayer. The film’s position is evident in these scenes, with Benedict coming off as a strict authoritarian who is more interested in dogma than reality. Both men are sanded down to caricatures and vessels for two sides of a religious debate. It’s a shame these two men are the prisms through which this debate is held.

Credit must be given to the screenplay and performances for making a two-hour-long conversation between two men utterly gripping. The film takes place in a variety of locations and never stays in one place for too long. It also makes liberal use of flashbacks to Francis’ time as a cardinal in Argentina, peppering it with voice overs to tie it back into the conversation at hand.

Anthony Hopkins and Jonathan Pryce are incredible as Benedict and Francis. Hopkins displays Benedict’s changes well and his big “Oscar” scene in which he admits he does not hear the voice of God is the best in the film. Pryce portrays Francis as a man reluctant to lead and haunted by what he’s done (or not done, in his case). It’s his first significant film role, but it will certainly not be his last.

The cinematography is the film’s major error. Cinematography should not be this shaky in such a slow and well-paced affair. The Two Popes is a conversation between two men who occasionally take a walk at the behest of a watch. It does not need to be shot like a Paul Greengrass film. The camera is shaky and uneven, preventing the viewer from connecting with these characters. The shot selection and staging are fantastic, but the handiwork is subpar.

Well, I cried at the end. That counts for something.

Final score: 7.8/10