On Pope as the prince of paupers

Oh reallyhellip Thats huge says Brazilian filmmaker Fernando Meirelles when I ask if he knows that the poster behind the desk of Bollywoods biggest producer Yashraj Studios boss Aditya Chopra is that of his gritty gem set in the slums of Rio De Janeiro City Of God 2002Although Meirelles hasnt heard of Chopra let alone seen his directorial debut Dilwale Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge 1995 or Yashrajs other works to be able to appreciate the ironysurprise at a City Of God poster on Chopras wall he did meet an Indian filmmaker while in Mumbai who said he had made a series inspired by the same filmThat gentleman was showrunner Vikramaditya Motwane The show he was referring to was of course Sacred Games on Netflix Mareilles latest film The Two Popes a biographical drama also dropped on Netflix this week And while The Two Popes is all about sanctity sacredness religion and authority it is farthest away from City Of God or indeed its admitted inspiration Sacred GamesIts about two individuals mdash Pope Benedict XVI Anthony Hopkins and Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio Jonathan Pryce Theyre having a conversation mdash a debate as it were about very essential things they disagree with each other on The threecamera setup seems rudimentarily documentarylikeFor the most part the film seemed to me along the lines of Istvan Szabos masterpiece Taking Sides 2001 set in postWar Germany with the US Army Major Hervey Keitel interrogating a musical conductor Stellan Skarsgard and the film also a biopic making nuanced arguments on the place of art and politics in historysocietyHopkins killing it as the frail Pope Benedict is deeply conservative at heart Pryce subtle to the core as Bergoglio later to take over as Pope Francis is his bosss social antithesis At the centre of this true story is the Catholic Church or its futurepresent as both envision it And yet if you zoom out a little what you getsee is a very humanistic document on the role and contemporary relevance of religion itselfThe original script by Anthony McCarten had a lot of people praying and religion in it Meirelles says mdash something he got rid of to reveal a more spiritual side to the story rather than religious in a Catholic way What attracted Meirelles to The Two Popes was one of them mdash that is the progressive Pope Francis whose general worldview mdash whether on universal brotherhood or environmental concerns mdash he wholly agrees withAlso the film works at a personal level mdash where two men who disagree to the point that they almost hate each other find common ground And at the political level with Pope Francis strong criticisms of global economic systemsCouldnt agree more Especially loved that laconic exchange where Pope Benedict says All dictatorships take away our freedom to choosehellip Or reveal our weaknesses Pope Francis cuts in since hes had a history with Argentinean authoritarianism in the 70s when he had to make a choice between protecting Jesuit priests under his order andor following orders of the government of the dayThis is the part of the film where Meirelles genius as a filmmaker shows up as he cuts away from interior BenedictFrancis sequences into the bedlam in Buenos Aires in the late 70s with an eightyearold military rule in the Latin American country Pope Francis is from This isnt to suggest the Vatican portions of the film are anything but stunning to say the leastThe Two Popes has rightly picked up four top nominations at the Golden Globes this year Besides such an intimate story what the film reveals is Mereilles strong knack for drawing out characters situating them in a solid filmic space and letting the two interact organically with audiences wholly immersed in the world theyve been sucked intoIn a completely different way thats what Meirelles did with casting nonprofessional actors from favelas slums in Brazil to throw you into a guttural armpit called City Of God an actual neighbourhood that you found hard to emerge from eventuallySuch a world can so easily be adapted in India and Bombay for sure Hows Mumbai different from Rio I ask Meirelles Mumbai is more intense bigger louder colourful he says But more importantly Meirelles observes Mumbai doesnt really look into the sea The sea seems like its in its backyard unlike RioIts a sharp point somehow lost on filmmakers making the predictably Bombay film mdash with the standard shot of Marine Drive if you may The only quintessentially Bombay film without a single shot of the sea I know is Zoya Akhtars Gully Boy 2019 starring Ranveer Singh as Murad in the lead and Vijay Verma as the protagonists brother from another mother Moin Guess what Singh offered Verma as the precious tip to play Moin Bhai City of God He pointed him to the character Lil Zeacute from Meirelles filmMayank Shekhar attempts to make sense of mass culture He tweets mayankw14Send your feedback to mailbagmiddaycomThe views expressed in this column are the individuals and dont represent those of the paperCatch 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