A Papisa Joana

This film was released in 2009, I was surfing Youtube, and I accidentally came upon the trailer. I love a historical drama, and I know a little about Pope Joan, and I didn't understand how I missed knowing about this film till now (2013) I suppose the promotion of foreign language films in Ireland is not great. Anyway I got hold of the film.

It started off a bit slow but still you could see that this was an intriguing story on its own. How could a woman become a Pope in one of the foremost matriarch hierarchical societies in the world. It was then and still is. So how could it ever have happened. Historical there are no details and there it is probably a myth rather then fact, but even the myth is compelling.

I watched the film and it was long but always interesting, any good piece on that period of humanity is. As "the life of man, is solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short" as Hobbes put it. Stories and the history of that age gives you a sense of count your blessings you live in this age. The film did have an agenda, as a reflection of the position of women in this age. I didn't mind that, Joan was forced to struggle and overcome the cultural limitations placed on her sex to express her natural humanity and intelligence, as millions of women still struggle with the same in this age. I would love to say things are wholely better in this age for women, but I know in parts of this modern world it is still very much the same. Women's march for equality is very far from over. So that seemed a natural agenda to push for a tale about a woman pope and why not? I would regard myself as a male feminist and the message still needs to be told.

The film was far from perfect, and it could have been a whole lot better, there were scenes that could have been added and omitted, but I still found myself recommending it to friends, and it was one of the best 2 or more hours in front of the tele for me this year. I still loved it to spite its obvious flaws. In the end you can't beat a good story whether that story is true or not.

So watch it and see do you agree with the 6.5 rating for this epic film in scope and tale. I think 6.5 is very unfair, I rate it 9/10.

This legendary tale of a woman who briefly ascended to the papal throne may be set in the ninth century, but its themes and its subject matter is as relevant now as it was before. In fact, the German-made, English-language "Pope Joan" arrives at a time when the Catholic Church is once again facing calls to allow women to be ordained priests- especially since in the wake of the recent paedophilia scandal in Europe, some point the cause to the Church's insistence on a male, celibate priesthood.

Adapted from the bestseller by Donna Woolfolk Cross, the legend of Pope Joan goes that said woman posed as a man to enter the Benedictine monastery and rose to the favour of the previous pope due to her great intellect and learning. Yet after a reign of a few years, she gave birth to a baby during a papal procession and was torn apart by an angry mob. Whether this is fact or fiction is up to you to decide, though this adaptation which begins with a French bishop arriving in Rome to enter Joan's story in the papal archives wants you to believe its authenticity.

The bishop's dictation frames the flow of the movie, which attempts to chronicle the life of Joan right from the time of her difficult birth to a fundamentalist village priest (Iain Glen) and his Saxon wife (Joerdis Triebel) to the time of her death in front of the Roman crowds. Even from a young age, we learn that Joan possessed extraordinary wisdom and an insatiable crave for knowledge. So despite her misogynistic father's opposition to girls receiving any form of education, she picks up reading and writing and even Scripture itself.

These early years are presented with a bleakness and austerity that effectively, if manipulatively, gets the audience's sympathies firmly with Joan. As her father makes Joan watch him physically abuse her mother for not objecting to Joan's learning of Scripture, and then whips her severely for what he perceives as a grievous offence, it's hard not to root for the brilliant and bright Joan to break free from the chains of her father's misogyny.

But that liberation is not to come till much later, even as the chance visit of a religious teacher marks her initiation into the religious life. Together with her brother Johannes, Joan is sent to study under the bishop of Dorstadt where she meets Gerold (David Wenham), a knight whom the teenage Joan slowly falls in love with. After the invading Norse army ambushes their village while Gerold is away, Joan binds her breasts and trims her hair, beginning her impersonation as her brother Johannes by joining the Fulda Abbey.

Unfolding at a brisk pace, director Soenke Wortmann (of the German hit "The Miracle of Bern") deftly keeps the proceedings taut and the tension palpable, as Joan takes care to conceal her identity. When at the brink of being discovered, Joan journeys to Rome where she is first appointed as a physician to Pope Sergius (John Goodman) and slowly grows to become his personal adviser. After he is murdered by his own courtiers, Joan is chosen by the people of Rome as his successor, her election as Pope a carefully calculated sweet triumph for its audience.

Yet it's not nearly enough for Joan to be Pope, her chance meeting with Gerold igniting her feelings for him and their eventual coupling resulting in her pregnancy. This reviewer must admit first and foremost that this turn of events didn't sit with his personal convictions too well- not for the fact that Pope Joan was female, but for her blatant disregard of the Church's understanding of celibacy. Bearing in mind she was firstly ordained and secondly unwed, should Pope Joan have given in to her feelings and consummated with Gerold? Would such an intelligent woman have acted so callously with little regard of the inevitable consequences? Where art thou would she command any moral authority as the head of the Church? Of course, such is the controversial nature of the legend that has remained hugely debated over the years, but it is inevitable that some audiences will find the material troubling. Nonetheless, it isn't less of a film just because it has chosen to tackle a topic of such divisive nature. Rather, lead actress Johanna Wokalek anchors the movie with an emotionally rousing performance portraying Joan's steeliness and vulnerability in equal measure. Best known for her roles in Til Schweiger's Barfuss and Uli Edel's The Baader Meinhof Complex, Wokalek not only looks the part, but plays it with gusto and aplomb.

Yet it's easy to overlook Wokalek's brilliant acting in the film because of its subject matter which, as this reviewer has pointed out, remains as relevant today and therefore disputatious. It's best therefore that one approaches this with an open mind, and if necessary, a piece of fiction- for you will discover that this handsomely mounted historical epic is riveting and rousing from start to finish.

I realise many criticise this movie for being 'based on fiction' but hey. It's a move and very good entertainment at that. I loved all the actors EXCEPT John Goodman who was cringeworthy as Pope Sergius. In particular, Johanna Wokalek is a revelation, I love her simplicity and pure spirt, at least that's how her "Joan" came across to me. The mediæval setting is well done, though lacks the glorious costumes of high budget productions. There is criticism that the crowd scenes are a little uncrowded, I didn't notice this at all. David Wenham's a gorgeous actor with an amazing voice I love his rendition of the almost gormless Gerold, so ruggedly handsome. I also like the all to short role Iain Glen was given as the Village Priest, what wonderful acting. Much praise also to the very sweet Tigerlilly Hutchinson (Tigerlilly??), she plays the young Joan with aplomb. Not the best historical drama I've seen but an excellent one, only thing missing was the fragrance of mediæval europe.

Although critics in my native Greece were very circumspect when valuing this movie I disagree with them. Many found that it lacked grandiose crowds in the battle and acclamation of the Pope scenes, but I think that in reality medieval battles and the assembly of Roman plebeians acclaiming the Pope must not have been particularly grandiose events and that added a quality of realism to the movie.

Also the structure of the story, the equivalent of what Germans call Bildungsroman-that is the process of the development of character through life, was presented in a very able manner, showing the evolution of Joan, a simple but charismatic country girl, to supreme Pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church.

The love story subplot was also good adding romance to a tale that would have been dull otherwise and proving that even scholarly girls are not immune to the pleasures of the flesh.

I have to comment on the acting of Ms Wokalek, which I found admirable in the way that it portrayed the subdued power of the character of Joan under a facade of neutral manners and also the surprise role of John Goodman who played a larger than life exuberant and kindly Pope.

The evocation of the age was also excellent avoiding excesses, and presenting the mendacity of peasant life in the villages as well as the relative luxury of the ruling classes.

Of course the main point of the story concerned the barriers that gender and class posed to a talented poor woman during that dark age. I think the story has similarities with that of Joan of Ark. The final surprise, which I will not disclose, must have been a novelistic devise relative to modern concerns about the Church invented by the author of the novel on which the movie was based and not an integral part of the Pope Joan legend as preserved through the ages.

All in all a very able movie which I greatly enjoyed. It is a pity that the response of the Greek critics was at best lukewarm.

the subject is far to be new. but it remains source of the same controversies. and the film has the rare gift to create a coherent, seductive image for a theory who remains obscure. the film has all the ingredients of genre. and it gives an interesting portrait of a woman who, against the social rules, step by step, sacrifice by sacrifice, becomes one of the most important figures of Catholic Church. the important thing is not the story itself. but the manner to use its nuances. because it has the romanticism and the tension, the fight scenes and the chain of dark secrets who define many other films. its specificity remains the beautiful performance of Johanna Wokalek who discovers the right rhythm for define in clear , delicate, precise manner her character. her admirable work is the axis of the inspired recreation of the atmosphere. and basic ingredient about a image of success and its price.