Did you know that Pope Francis is the head of a global humanitarian organisation dedicated principally to saving “Mother Earth”? This is the impression given by the documentary Pope Francis: A Man of His Word (★, PG, 96 minutes), produced, co-written and directed by Wim Wenders, and released this week.
The film starts with a “homily” from Wenders on St Francis. It transpires that the Catholic saint and stigmatic was more a social revolutionary than a follower of Christ. Thereafter, the film’s secular understanding of spirituality is the lens through which the current Pope is viewed. This misrepresents Francis as first and foremost a political activist, with the film’s contention endlessly promulgated throughout with footage of the Pope visiting prisons, migrant camps, and the poor in South America. In turn, this is interspersed with the Pope talking directly to the camera, mostly about poverty and ecology. Pope Francis has the air of a long and worthy secular sermon on the environment.
