Pope John Paul II

I commend CBS for airing this excellent biography of Pope John Paul II. I feel it did a marvelous job of portraying his courage, faith and love! There was a continuity from event to event that was not apparent in the biography aired by a rival network a few days earlier. Because of all the Pope did, it was impossible to do an adequate job of showing his life with only a two-hour movie. It is refreshing that an American television network chose to depict the Pope in a positive way instead of denigrating religion as the secular media are often wont to do. I also appreciated being shown how Pope John Paul II turned to God for inspiration when he had choices to make and during his trials. Finally, I think Jon Voigt was able to capture the Pope's sense of humour and his char ism.

I watched both the ABC and CBS versions of the life of Karol Wojtyla. The ABC version was impressive but the CBS miniseries is the one to watch for at Emmy time.

This version opens with the shooting of John Paul II on May 13, 1981. Then we see Karol's earlier life through flashbacks. Sadly, we see only five seconds with his mother, but that scene was wonderful. Add to that about ten seconds of Karol's life as a boy.

From there, we go to Poland in the days of the invasion by the Nazis. Karol is part of a theater group, and he is in college. A number of his friends and even a professor get taken away or killed by the Germans, and he has important choices to make. God's call seems to outweigh all the other factors, and Karol does end up becoming a priest, even though he must break rocks for the Germans. Even while doing that, Karol shows how strong and moral he is. Later, the Communists appear to be less of a threat than the Germans. Maybe so, but they are still manipulating the church for their own purposes.

We see several scenes with Karol's loving father, but for the most part his life is shaped by his superiors in the church, including Cardinal Adam Sapieha. Karol advances more quickly in the church than anyone would expect, making the Communists nervous.

Eventually, a new Pope is needed, and Karol is ready. He seems less reluctant to accept the position in this version, and the election process is shown in more detail (and twice), even using the correct language (which must have been Latin).

As Pope, John Paul II is shown as very loving and caring, interested in the people and in travel, and ready to take on all challenges. World events, especially those affecting Poland, receive a detailed treatment here, and Lech Walesa is a major character.

Cary Elwes did a fine job as Karol in his younger years, showing Karol with quite a sense of humor as well as very intelligent. Jon Voight, who looked less like John Paul II than Thomas Kretschmann, did an amazing job and effectively captured an aging and increasingly frail man who still had faith and a strong desire to serve. All the major actors did an impressive job, but I particularly noticed James Cromwell since I have known him since his days as Stretch Cunningham. Who would have ever believed Stretch Cunningham as a Cardinal? Well, believe it.

The ABC movie may be better for those with a limited attention span. If you want to be entertained rather than educated, this may not be the movie for you, though it includes plenty of entertaining scenes and considerably more laughs than the ABC movie did.

As a work of art, though, the CBS production achieves the excellence broadcast TV often lacks.

Fascinating recounting of the Pope Juan Pablo II , Karol Wojtyla , his early life (1939-78 period) well played by Gary Elwes , and subsequent epoch magnificently acted by John Voight . The film concerns about the majestic figure , the Polish Pope Karol Wojtyla (John Voight , though Ian Holm was originally cast for the role but left for personal reasons) brought to the life at much expense and with sense and thought since his youth in Poland ,the early years , until his appointment as Pope of the Catholic church in Rome(1978). The movie starts on October 12,1939 when the evil men Nazis get taken the world , Nazis have invaded Poland , they've destroyed the Polish air force, 500 plane pulverised before they could take off , bombed cities , radio station , Churchs... Meanwhile Karol lives with his father but he wants to join the Army . He hides but the Nazis as well as the Russians have invaded the border . Hitler and Stalin made a pact ,the Red army has betrayed to Poland and now they don't take prisoners . Hitler appointed Hans Frank chief civilian officer for occupied Polish territory and then Governor-General of occupied Poland . Hans Frank described his policy in this post : ¨Poland shall be treated like a colony:the Poles will become the slaves of the Greater German Empire¨ . He destroyed Poland as a national entity and exploited its human and material resources for the German war effort . Frank ran Poland in imitation of the Nazi state.He ordered the killing of Polish Intelligence and Military officials in an attack of destruction and hatred against the Polish universities and the Catholic Church . He warned that Jews and Poles could be sentenced to death for any act of force against the German or for damage to a public installation , he confiscated Jewish and Polish property , he expropriated valuable paintings for his own house and he allowed huge quantities of food to be smuggled from Poland to Germany . By December 1942 more than 95 percent of the Jews in Poland had been transported to extermination camps . The future Pope must to confront these adversities and misfortunes,he suffers cruel experiences but the God's faith and the love is the cure for the badness . Then he assisted the holiness call and goes into the seminar and as priest he serves his first mass . After he's appointed bishop and Cardinal and continuing consoling the mankind . Later was elected Pope , the first no Italian from 1523. His second period dealt his fruitful pontiff (1978-2005) and the pastoral journeys he made to America , Mexico and many others countries, making an intense diplomatic labour and problems that were taking place in the Catholic church ,including the 1981 attack by Ali Agca . Thanks to his unshakable tenacity , Pope John Paul II helps to change the course of history : liberty in Poland helped by Lech Walesa and the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 decrees the collapse of Communism . But the Pope does not stop being the voice of Christ, even among the injustices of the capitalistic Western world , even among the provocations and challenges of modern times , as developing the faith to inspire millions begins with the power of one .

The film captures splendidly the goodness and generosity of the immortal Pope . Cary Elwes as well as John Voight give fine acting portraying accurately the unforgettable Pope renovating the moral sense and thoughts , giving hope , fighting for human rights and winning the hearts of the people . Footage of the real Pope John Paul II , albeit with his face obscured , was used for a few scenes, most notably the televised meeting with foreign people and US President Ronald Reagan . The film was approved by the late Pope John Paul II. The project started before his death, and Pope John Paul II was very hands-on with the production and knew of the script ; also , Pope Benedict XVI praised the film after watching a screening on November 2005. The motion picture is magnificently played by an excellent plethora of support actors such as James Cromwell as Cardinal Adam Sapieha , Christopher Lee as Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski , Ben Gazzara as Cardinal Agostino Casaroli ,Vittoria Belvedere as Eva and the recently deceased Giuliano Gemma as Navarro Valls . Furthermore , Daniele Pecci as Roman , whose role is based on Jerzy Kluger, a Polish Jew and lifelong friend of Wojtyla . There also appears Pope Benedict XVI, he is briefly depicted in the film as Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger played by Mikolaj Grabowski . Special mention to touching , evocative musical score by Marco Frisina , he is also a Roman Catholic priest and director of the Pastoral Worship Center at the Vatican . The picture was rightly directed by John Kent Harrison . This film's release smashed box office records in Pope John Paul II's native Poland.

Other films about this majestic figure are the followings : ¨Karol , the Pope , the Man¨ (2006) by Giacomo Battiato with Piotr Adamczyk as John Paul II , Michele Placido , Daniela Giordano and Leslie Hope ; ¨Have No Fear : The Life of Pope John Paul II¨ (2005) (TV) by Jeff Bleckner with Thomas Kretschmann as Pope John Paul II , Joaquim de Almeida as Salvadoran Archbishop Oscar Romero and Bruno Ganz as Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski "Karol: A Man Who Became Pope" (2005) with Piotr Adamczyk as Karol Wojtyla , Ken Duken as Adam Zielinski , Raoul Bova , Kenneth Welsh and Violante Placido , ¨Pope Juan Pablo II¨ by Herbert Wise with Albert Finney and Brian Cox , and ¨From a Far Country¨ (1981) by Zanussi with Sam Neill , Christopher Cazenove , Lisa Harrow and Daniel Olbrychski .

Folks, last night I watched the second and last part of CBS's biopic on Pope John Paul the Great, and as far as I'm concerned, of the three papal biopics I've seen this year, this one is the best, and the most faithful to the late Pope's life.

So far, this is the only biopic that has respected the order of events in Pope John Paul's life. There was good attention to detail: the conclave scene is faithful down in terms of place and ceremony. You may clearly see the cardinals' seats in the Sistine Chapel, as well as the three-cardinal committee that counted the ballots, everything, including the cry of "extra omnes" ("everyone out") preceding the start of the election, was authentic. The ABC's biopic that aired last Thursday rendition of the same moment seemed oversimplified and rushed in comparison.

The real strength of the movie lies in its cast. Cary Elwes played the younger Karol Wojtyla in the movie's first part and I have to say that at times, and from certain angles, he closely resembled the young Wojtyla. But the thing I liked the most is that he projected an *inner joy* and peace that was captivating. Wojtyla was no sourpuss and Elwes "got it right." The only thing that appeared inauthentic is that when he portrayed the late pope's quarry days during the Nazi occupation, he too seemed chubby and well-fed as compared to pictures Wojtyla in pictures taken at the time. The Nazi diet in Poland was not the best fare and it showed in Wojtyla even on his first photos as a priest. Apparently, Elwes hesitated to go into a drastic diet to change his looks so drastically for this role. I can't say I blame him.

For John Voight, this was an Emmy-worthy performance. It helped that Voight resembled the Pope physically, sharing the same square, strong jaw as John Paul. The way Voight captured Pope John Paul's accent and baritone voice was at times pretty scary, so much so that I wonder how much of his lines were lip-synced to existing audio tracks of the late Pope. Voight's countenance when he opened the Holy Doors for the Year 2000 Jubilee so uncannily resembled John Paul's that I had to blink a couple of times to ensure that I was watching Voight and not John Paul. Therefore, kudos and congrats go too to CBS's makeup department for such an outstanding job. Maybe there's an Emmy here for them too.

Voight captured John Paul's physical suffering so much so that it was inspiring. I bet that is not easy to capture a face paralyzed by Parkinson's disease, but Voight did it, down to the trickle of saliva off the side of his mouth at the reenactment of the Pope's last public appearance.

Secondary characters: James Cromwell played Cardinal Adam Sapieha, Wojtyla's first mentor and Archbishop of Krakow during WWII. You might remember from roles as the robot developer and inventor in _I, Robot_ and as the warp drive inventor, Zefram Cochrane in _Star Trek: First Contact_. He did well in this movie.

Christopher Lee played Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski of Warsaw, Wojtyla's other mentor. You may remember that Lee played Count Doku in the last two episodes of the _Star Wars_ prequel. That was weird…I feel bad that I've type-casted poor Christopher Lee into a bad guy role for ever and ever.

I also applaud the portrayal of the Pope's "nephews and nieces," his inner circle of friends and spiritual children, from whom Wojtyla learned so much about the human condition. His friendship with "Roman," a Jewish childhood friend was endearing and illustrative of Pope John Paul's big heart—although I have to say that I don't remember "Roman" from any of the bios I've read about John Paul. Maybe "Roman" is a composite character. The name of the Pope's childhood Jewish friend was different in the other two biopics. That leads me to believe that's probably the case.

One bad point: the scene where the Pope was in his open pope mobile cruising St. Peter's Plaza, with the columnata in the background, and the crowd in front of him, on his way to be shot by Mehmet Ali Agca looked fake through and through. The three "layers" were superimposed and they sort of "shook" out of sync with normal movement. It may me dizzy to look at it. Thumbs down to the special effects people.

All-in-all, it was a great production. As soon as I'm able, I'll get me the DVD.

The first half of this TV movie, "Pope John Paul II", was shown on Sunday last. The second part was shown tonight. Certainly Roman Catholics everywhere were interested, but also anyone of any Faith, and even many who don't profess a Faith, I hope found this story fascination. The story of a simple man who found love in his heart and lived a life to help spread that love among all.

Cary Elwes is very believable as the young adult Karol Wojtyla growing up in Poland during the advances of Nazi Germany. He was strongly influenced by his father and the priests and bishops he came in contact with. He was interested in drama, in education, in sports, and had many friends. We see a glimpse of his girlfriend who challenged him to tell her what he wanted out of life, hoping that he would want to become her husband, and father of their children. But the challenges of the times forbid his going in that direction, and later as history has witnessed, he became a priest, studying in secret, in defiance of the German regulations, to fulfill his calling.

The first half ends in the midst of the Conclave of Cardinals to elect a new pope, and young Cardinal Karol is being considered, much to his surprise.

The second half opened where the first left off, and as we know Karol Wojtyla indeed became the new Pope, John Paul II. Cinematically the transition from Elwes to Voight was also a good one. As good as Elwes was as the young adult Wojtyla, Voight was even better, as we would expect from such a seasoned actor. (It may have helped that, as a young man, Voight was educated at Catholic University.)

The whole movie is extremely well done, and shows what a great man and a great spiritual leader Karol Wojtyla became. And, even though we knew they were actors in this movie, the final hours of John Paul II were very touching.

I definitely plan to buy this one once the DVD is out.