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Two Popes

Watching this movie was a delightful experience. The conversations between the cardinal and the Pope are not always friendly but both men are erudite and speak to ideas far bigger than their individual selves. It is a pleasure to be part of these conversations the director imagines they had over time. There are also these moments that bring out the human and fallible in them - be it ordering pizza and Fanta, watching football together or confessing their sins to each other. 

Seeing Anthony Hopkins morph from Hannibal to the character of the Pope is as unreal as it is amazing. Though to be fair, I am a unabashed fan and have not seen him in any role that I did not love. Like the average person, the Pope and the cardinal are not always able to do what is absolutely right, stand for what is the inviolable truth. Yet unlike the average person, their actions and lack thereof have consequences that impact over a billion people. It is an oppressive weight to carry on the conscience. When the closing credits rolled, I thought of the cliched Shakespeare quote "Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown". Nothing sums up the plight of these two men better. 

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