Waste of time

How wonderful it is to see this fine actress carry a film and carry it so beautifully.

It's an amazing and heartbreaking story.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

I saw the movie a few days ago and, even though I did not like the ending, I gave a 9/10, because I loved how the Cardinals were made to look so godly and so human at the same time. Michel Piccoli did such great acting. Last but not least, besides being very entertaining, the movie now has proved to be prophetic, as Pope Benedict has resigned to everyone's surprise. That alone makes this movie, a great movie.PS: For the person who wrote: "Waste of time, written by an atheist so what do you expect", and then complains of "an insult to all Believers". I am not an atheist; I believe in God. But my thinking brain felt deeply insulted as I was reading the rant.

I am soooo glad I didn't pay anything but the eight bucks a month cost of netflix for this piece of garbage. It is an insult to all Believers in God and Jesus Christ, not just an insult to Catholics. I am not a Catholic but I am a 'slain in the spirit' believer. If you are a Believer, one of God's Children, then this 'comedy' (which it is not although described that way) is blasphemous. In the past 45 years I have read / devoured (as twere) many books by Christians and about God and Jesus. Many of those books were written by the Popes. Each Pope has proved to me, by his written words, that he is also Born Again. Would a Cardinal, elected almost unanimously, to be Pope, reject that election? turn his back on God and God's people? I highly doubt it. I am going to lobby to have this movie removed from the 'faith and spirituality' group within Netflix to something 'darker'. It 'could' have been a good movie, but the only 'good' thing about it was getting to see some of Rome again after having been away from Italy for the past 30 odd years. Don't waste your time on this garbage. It's just another attack by the devil as assisted by his minions.

"We Have a Pope" was advertised as a comedy, but it's really more of a drama with a few lighthearted moments. I was looking forward to this movie after seeing the trailer, which made it seem like a laugh-out-loud comedy ("hilarious" according to a Huffington Post critic quoted in the trailer). When the movie started, though, I was thinking, "Wow, this is a slow start for a comedy." Minute after long minute of cardinals walking through the Vatican and chanting as they prepare to elect a Pope. Unfortunately, this snooze-inducing pace doesn't pick up much as the movie progresses.Oh yes, the premise is intriguing: The elected Pope has a crisis of confidence at the last minute and decides that he can't go through with it. He slips away from his handlers and wanders the city, trying to resolve his dilemma. But surprisingly, given a storyline with so many interesting possibilities, the script flounders at this point. The Pope wanders from place to place, never meeting anyone we care about, never having a meaningful conversation. He never learns anything, never resolves anything.Meanwhile, back at the Vatican, the cardinals organize a volleyball tournament. (What the heck?) The director apparently thinks the idea of cardinals playing volleyball is so amusing that he even shows them in sports-movie slow motion. Yawn. As boring as the Pope's adventures are, this ball game is even more boring.About two-thirds of the way through the movie, we finally get a hint of an interesting subplot. The cardinals discuss the odds published in the local paper regarding each of their chances of being elected. It turns out that the Pope was selected despite long odds. But alas, the whole matter is quickly forgotten. "We Have a Pope" has very little character development, a skeleton plot, only two or three funny lines, and a disappointing ending. I can't recommend it.

Saw the film in yesterday's Febiofest opening ceremony, with Nanni Moretti and Sandrine Bonnaire's presence to receive special achievement awards for their dedication of cinema. As a Cannes' underachiever last year, the film sports a vigorous comedic sugar-coat from the very beginning, after a majestically spectacular funeral of the deceased Pope and ignites by a cardinal's pratfall in the dark, then the new-elected Pope, a dark horse as none of the potential candidates are willing to take on the burden title (an unconvincing but laughable situation inside the chamber election) is not prepared for the supreme responsibility and fails to bulk himself up to soldier on his first public appearance for his election, the farce has grown out of control, exaggerated by the stunt of the eloped Pope roaming around Rome all by himself (unrecognized by the mass as no one is informed the name of the new Pope out of the Vatican), also the escaping procedure is too unpractical to exert for an octogenarian Michel Piccoli. The laughters are perpetual during the screen time, but Nanni Moretti's sarcastic lightheartedness has gradually outrun his incisive judgement, the whole buffoonery of the cardinals and regularly repeated gags are running out of vitality, culminating a quirky self- consciousness during the slow-motions of each cardinals who are competing strenuously for the international-tour of the volleyball competition set in the yard just beneath the Pope's chamber (each team is divided by regions and the intelligence quotient of all these wise men are skeptically challenged by the wide-eyed conversions. On the other hand, the Pope's route on the run also falls restrained (Mr. Piccolo's approachable performance is a pro against the odds of the priority of a ridicule keynote).The film could have got Michel Piccoli's surefire paramount accomplishment during his over 65 years acting career span, which is remorsefully undermined by the willful levity of the film and the denouement is too unorthodox to endorse even from an agnostic point-of-view.