Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #21473 in DVD
• Released on: 2005-11-14
• Rating: Suitable for 12 years and over
• Format: PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 180 minutes

Synopsis
The life of Karol Wojtyla, or, as he is better known, Pope John Paul II. A poet, playwright, actor, mystic, philosopher, and pope, Wojtyla (shaped by the terrors of the Second World War and Communist Poland) came to be known as one of the world's greatest defenders of religious freedom and human rights.

Customer Reviews

Exceedingly Good Production with a Feel for the Authentic
Watched this on German TV the past two nights - excellent ! An Italian-Polish-French-German production costing 20 million Euros well-spent.

The opening in Krakow as the Nazi invasion turns the world upside down and those around Wojtyla are dispersed or dead, some to re-emerge, others to live on only in his thoughts; is graphic.

What develops is the enormous depth of experience which made this Polish Pontiff so much more resonant with the peoples of the world than any Vatican bureaucrat of previous eras. It also renders the elevation of his friend Josef Ratzinger to be his successor a brilliant series of events for the Roman Catholic Church. The experience of Poland in suffering the ravages of Nazism and its eradication of Polish Culture and Jewish heritage followed by the stultifying montony and atheistic sterility of Sovietised Communism, made the steadfastness of Karol Wojtyla the very essence of John Bunyan's Mr Standfast.

This was a man of enormous resolve and mental capacity, a man of learning and a man of sporting action, yet a man who by his living, his surviving assassination, and the manner of his dying days; showed enormous courage and faith and is a man to be admired as so very few can be for his great example.

The acting was very, very good; and the juxtaposition of a resolute Church faced with the secular tyranny seeking to enslave and extirpate all resistance was a brilliant counterpoint in the film. The Cross of Nowy Huta was fantastic as a symbol, and symbolic of the cracking of the rigid frame of Europe's second totalitarian dictatorship of the Twentieth Century.

Reading the later books of Pope John Paul II - the very last series of essays - conceptualises this experience perfectly. In Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI the Church of Rome has revitalised itself with the accumulated experiences of two theologians who themselves experienced at first hand the brutality of Europe's most destructive war and its wholesale destruction of people rendered anonymous by sheer numbers of industrialised extermination. These two men carry a depth of experience which has enriched the Church of Rome, of which I am not an adherent.I find the film inspires awe of Karol Wojtyla, and that is what I feel is his due: a man who became great through harnessing his experiences to the common good and his strength of character to his strength of faith.

Brilliant
This is an excellent account of the life of Karol Woytyla, latterly Pope John Paul II. Gripping coverage. Even though it's very long at 3 hours, our attention was held throughout. Polish acting & direction much improved & of a high enough standard to be very watchable by critical 'western' standards. Much of the filming is on location & as such is very authentic. Highly recommended.

The Primacy of Love
I got this dvd a couple of years ago after having read George Weigels biography "Witness to Hope" and have played it a few times which, for a movie, is unusual for me. I think its because of the triumph of hope and love ,in the most adverse circumstances, that inspires me about Karol Wojtyla's life, so you don't have to be a roman catholic, or particularly religious, to take something from this movie.

The movie covers the period from Wojtyla's late teens, just before the outbreak of war, through to the point when he is elected pope in 1978. The appeal he had seemed to transcend religious divides and I think the movie captures what animated its subject - love. It's a theme repeated throughout - doing the right thing for the right reasons. As he says at one point "Love explains everything", even the reason for our existence.

It is ironic that the two figures in the western world who are thought to have had the greatest influence in the demise of the Soviet Union were both former actors: Ronald Regan and Pope John Paul II. It almost suggests that each had been marked out for a role in what was to become one of the most significant events in modern history. Didn't Shakespeare write "All the world's a stage, And all the men and women merely players" ?

The intended destruction of Poland as nation, including all its culture, by the Nazi's is captured brilliantly in the portrayal of Hans Frank, Hitler's Governor of Poland (who later was to repent and accept his execution as just punishment for his crimes). The attempted suppression of any spiritual aspect to life in the communist era is also very well captured in the figure of the party chief who shadows Wojtyla as his influence begins to rise amongst the polish people. But special credit to the acting out of Karol, I think it captures that sensitivity and idealism that made him attractive to people from a wide spectrum of life, especially the young.

I aim to be watching this film again and again.