Despite being a 2,ooo+-year-old institution, the Catholic papacy remains a hot topic for filmmakers.
While films and TV shows about popes can go in many directions -- some of them downright heretical or scandalous -- others can be entertaining and intriguing ... even when they don't color completely within the lines.
The release of director Edward Berger’s Conclave on Oct. 25 will likely round up a host of Oscar nominations. It may also potentially cause a stir in the Catholic community, generating controversy on the scale of The Da Vinci Code, released some 20years ago.
Because of the anti-Catholic themes of Robert Harris’ novel of the same name, I will forego considering Berger’s movie adaptation.
But, if you want to read a Catholic view of the film, veteran film critic John Mulderig has published one for the Catholic Review. Here are some excerpts:
A serious, even lugubrious, tone and a top-flight cast add heft to the ecclesiastical melodrama “Conclave” (Focus). Yet the film is fundamentally a power-struggle potboiler kept roiling by attention-grabbing plot developments — the last and most significant of which Catholic viewers will likely find uncomfortable at best. ...
“Conclave” also traffics in sordid secrets of varying plausibility in the lead-up to a climactic revelation that many will find offensively exploitative, others merely loopy. ...
Still, for all the delicacy and bet-hedging with which the matter is handled, it constitutes a characteristic instance of the way the picture elevates the pieties of the current zeitgeist over eternal truths.
All this isn't to say that the entertainment industry hasn't done justice to the pope. Below, find a few other papal intrigue TV shows and films that are more worth your time.
The Shoes of the Fisherman (1968)
This classic movie based on the Morris West novel of the same title poses the highest stakes in a papal story, for both Catholics and non-Catholics alike: averting World War III.
To pull this off, the cardinals elect an Eastern Catholic priest, Father Kiril Lakota (Anthony Quinn). The leader of the Soviet empire sets Lakota free from imprisonment in Siberia, and the political thriller commences.
Although filmed and set in the Cold War 1960s, the film does not feel dated at all. One could argue the film predicted the future: the election of Karol Wojtyla as Pope John Paul II and the part he played in dissolving communism in Eastern Europe.
The film can be digitally rented or purchased on several platforms, including Prime Video.
Habemus Papam (2011)
Nanni Moretti directed this funny film (in Italian language, English subtitles) about a papal election with next to no politicking.
An early montage with voiceover has the cardinals uniformly praying in their heads, “Please God, don’t pick me.” One of them, of course is elected after a lengthy process, leaving the remaining cardinals pleasantly relieved.
Cardinal Melville (Michel Piccoli) becomes the pope, but, before stepping out onto the balcony, he gets cold feet and flees the Vatican to walk the streets of Rome.
In reality, an elected cardinal may refuse the papacy, which brings some dramatic tension to the otherwise comic tone of the film. My favorite scene was of bored cardinals organizing a volleyball tournament on Vatican grounds while they await the elected cardinal’s decision as to whether he will accept the papal office.
The film is available to stream free on Tubi, Plex and The Roku Channel, and for rental on various sites.
The Young Pope (2016)
The most critically acclaimed Vatican show, also lauded by some Catholics across the political spectrum, was HBO’s The Young Pope.
It was so well-received, that the self-contained limited series begged for another telling four years later in The New Pope (both series have a TV-MA rating for language, smoking, nudity, etc., so keep it to mature high-schoolers and up).
In the original, an ultraorthodox American bishop (Jude Law) is elected as Pope Pius XIII. Many forces conspire and pressure Pius to alter core doctrine of the Church for the modern world.
Pius changes his pastoral approach from an unseen autocrat to a visible shepherd, but does so without compromising Church teaching one iota. Catholic orthodoxy is not a personal belief of the showrunner but give him credit for suppressing any personal umbrage he may hold for the Faith in favor of the story.
It's unconventional and satirical at times but ultimately satisfying and even enlightening.
It's available to stream on MAX and Hulu, and for rental on several sites.
The Two Popes (2019)
This Netflix film was based on a stage play written by Anthony McCarten (also the screenwriter). For some inexplicable reason, the film wrote out the two nun assistants (one Argentinian and one German) that gave organic context into the backgrounds of Pope Francis (Jonathan Pryce) and Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI (Anthony Hopkins).
Instead, the director relies on flashbacks that wrench you out of the otherwise compelling interplay between the two popes. The flashbacks only cover Pope Francis’ past and provide for uneven storytelling.
The strength of the film relies on the back and forth between Francis and Benedict, superbly performed by the veteran actors. It's not biography for either man, but it is a sympathetic and illuminating portrayal of two men in a job that only 266 men have held in human history.
My favorite scene rolls over the final credits. The two watch the 2014 World Cup final. As these things tend to go, the pope who could care less about soccer wins over the pope, die-hard fan as Germany defeated Argentina 1-0.
Image: The Two Popes/Netflix
Click here to visit Father Vince Kuna’s IMDB page.
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