Pope John Paul II

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 .

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.

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 this film with my Polish girlfriend this morning in a cinema in Krakow... It was dubbed in Polish, so I didn't understand a word that was said (apart from the very basics), but I really enjoyed it all the same...

A very simple and moving story about a honest man who believed in love and peace - simple as that... I am not a catholic (and never will be), but I was really moved by his story...

Jon Voight did a great job as the older pope - could really feel his frustration as the Parkinsons syndrome took hold...

By the way they are going mad about this in Poland - cinema was full at 10.45am on a Monday morning...

Many Thanks to my girlfriend who did her very best to translate for me! You should have seen the look of horror on her face when she realised it was dubbed in Polish and not polish sub-titles!

I dare to think, that my opinion (I am a Pole, coming from Krakow) might be interesting for other watchers of this movie. So here are my remarks.

Polish historical background is shown properly, although movie only marks milestones of Polish history after 2nd World War. Krakow is shown in realistic way, main scenes are shot in REAL historic places f.eg.:

• Pope 'window' chat on Franciszkanska street

• Krakow's ghetto 'cleaning' on Pilsudski bridge

• meeting with Wyszynski in Corpus Christi church's garden

I am under impression of Cary Elwes performance. I always regarded him as a comedy actor. But he shows very good picture of young Wojtyla. On the beginning he is rather 'flat'. But he is getting better getting 'older'. He is in fact very similar to young Wojtyla. Very good job, Cary.

If Cary did good work, Jon Voight have done excellent work. Producers have chosen conclave as the moment of replacing main actor. It is very good idea. Jon Voight perfectly studied mimicry of old Wojtyla, his way of walking (before and after hip operation). He showed us in realistic way growing influence of Parkinson disease. I fully agree he deserves Emmy award. His last public 'dumb' appearance on Vatican window is very touching and memorable picture.

Authors of movie did extremely good research work. Movie quotes several well known memorable pictures of Wojtyla, f. eg:

• reading a book in canoe - canoe altar mess - making a 'glasses' from hand by Pope - described above last public appearance

Sometimes (especially when light dimes and Voight is taken from profile) main actor became so similar to Wojtyla, that you might have impression to watch documentary.

Unfortunately special effects are bad. Pictures of crowd (f.eg. Warsaw mass, St Peter Square) are artificial, flying doves are artificial, German airplanes over Krakow are also too artificial. Maybe it is not visible in TV, but it looks really bad in theater.

And finally last remark. This movie is now distributed in polish cinemas (Poland is probably the only country in the world which broadcasts this movie in theaters). I do not know exactly what is the difference between versions shown in USA in TV and 'polish' theatrical version. I can see it is much shorter (127 min) Unfortunately it is also dubbed. I could not hear polish accent of Jon Voight. If I could vote for main actors only my score would be 10/10. But whole movie (although very good as a TV movie) is not perfect for reasons described above. It deserves strong 8.