The Bishop and the Butterfly: Murder, Politics, and the End of the Jazz Age

    We Have A Pope

    By A Guy Called LULU on Tue, 03/26/2013 - 9:05pm |

    I just stumbled onto a pretty good movie that is coincidentally quite timely. It is a comedy played seriously. It is called We Have A Pope. I liked it from the beginning where there is what I presume to be a realistic portrayal of the pomp and ceremony surrounding the death of a Pope. It quickly goes to the election process for the new Pope which reminded me of a comical twist on Putney Swope that might actually be quite inciteful. The movie is completely non-polemic. Wiki's description;

      We Have a Pope is a 2011 Italian comedy-drama film directed by Nanni Moretti. Its original title is Habemus Papam, the Latin phrase used upon the announcement of a new pope. The film stars Michel Piccoli as a cardinal who, against his wishes, is elected pope. Moretti co-stars as a psychiatrist who is called in to help the pope overcome his panic. The film premiered in Italy in April 2011 and played in competition at the 64th Cannes Film Festival.

    It is available streaming on Netflix. Worth a try if you haven't already seen it.

    Comments

    I got Netflix.

    I am gonna look at this. No kidding.

    But my favorite film about the Catholic Church was called The Shoes of the Fisherman.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Shoes_of_the_Fisherman#The_1968_film

    Anthony Quinn plays this Soviet prisoner at some Gulag installation and ends up as a Cardinal in Rome and is elected Pope.

    Please let this cup pass my lips, of course.

    I have viewed this film at least twenty times over the last 40+ years; they will show it on our pseudo Catholic network from time to time.

    It is wonderful. The Vatican per Quinn's character ends up selling/mortgaging the entire fortune in Rome.

    And then, John Paul II shows up and I am amazed; and I am an agnostic for the simple reason that no one can adequately define the word 'GOD'. 

    John Paul II was a Soviet prisoner; he was Polish; and he would have electrified me as an altar boy in the older days.

    And I was reading some article recently about the fact that we must be looking at billions upon billions of dollars in art treasures located at the Vatican!

    Anyway, I will certainly take a look at this film.

    Thank you for this.


    by Richard Day on Wed, 03/27/2013 - 12:31am

    This made me think of a British comedy from the early 90's called "The Pope Must Die".  It starred Robbie Coltrane (who played Hagrid in the Harry Potter films).  It had some funny moments, but is probably best remembered because when it came out, the Vatican raised such a stink about the title that, a couple of weeks after it was released, the title of the movie was changed to, "The Pope Must Diet."   


    by MrSmith1 on Wed, 03/27/2013 - 3:17am