From the title alone you'd think this is about religion or some kinda propaganda to re-polish the Vatican but it is just not ... It is a two hours of someones life and how change even on the most strict situations can bring progress.

Anthony McCarten wrot an amazing flawless script, I mean in the last five years you'll see his name on Theory of Everything, Darkest Hour, Bohemian Rhapsody and then he brought us this... the directing and visuals ,, and more importantly the beauty of multi sets from Italy to Argentina were all on point.

Now to the cast ... My goodness the duo of Anthony Hopkins and Jonathan Pryce was unbelievable !! the dialogue went like , how can they do this !! you can absolutely sense the level of acting between these two ... It was like a dance ,by the way there was a scene right at the end where they both try to dance tango

If you read ghost-written books, you will discover that story is often offered "as told to" the real writer. With this movie, we are offered the biography of Pope Francis as told to Benedict XVI, the first pope to resign in more than half a millennium.

More than that, it's the tale of their rapprochement: although Benedict was a conservative, and Francis as radical as you could be, they were -- and, as both men are still alive as I write this, are -- motivated by sincere faith, always listening for the voice of a G*d that more secular-minded people like me don't believe in.

The real joy of this movie, though, is not the beautiful settings, nor the elaborate clothes and jewels that cardinals and popes wear -- when he is putting on the robes to assume the See of Rome, Francis refuses the jewels, the red shoes and similar appurtenances, remarking "the carnival is ended". It is the performances, Jonathan Pryce as Francis, Anthony Hopkins as Benedict, talking, arguing, being human with each other. These performances look simple. That is the magic of great actors, directors, writers, cinematographers, to produce something that looks simple and very human by means so arcane that not even the professionals can be sure of getting it right.

Inspired by a famous photograph of two living popes meeting each other. This is a showcase for two Welsh acting powerhouses.

The Two Popes is a fictional tale of an imaginary meeting between Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio (Jonathan Pryce) who is a radical reformer who is contemplating retirement and the conservative Joseph Ratzinger who became Pope Benedict XVI (Anthony Hopkins) in 2005.

The Argentine Cardinal Bergoglio is summoned to visit the pope his summer residence. He wants an answer from the pope about his desire to retire. The pope though has something else in mind and so begins a passive/aggressive battle of wits between two men and how they see the future of the Catholic church. The bombshell being that it is Pope Benedict who plans to retire and views Cardinal Bergoglio as his likely successor.

What should be a dull and dry story about the direction of the Catholic church. The movie becomes something witty and riveting in the hands of director Fernando Meirelles who shows the two men as human who have both made mistakes and have doubts about themselves.

Ratzinger was regarded as a dry remote academic and someone who was conscripted as a Nazi in his youth. Hopkins portrays him with a Teutonic sense of humour, a man who likes to play the piano but is a loner and is devoted to the traditional doctrine of the catholicism.

Over the course of the story we find out that Cardinal Bergoglio made compromises to save his Jesuit order during the era of the military Junta in Argentina in the 1970s. He was seen as someone who supported the right wing military dictatorship and Bergoglio has been haunted by his actions. Jonathan Pryce as the older Bergoglio is a humble man who has turned his back on pomp and the carnival.

This is an intelligent and heartwarming drama, even though it is essentially a conversation and a duel between two contrasting men.