Our God's Brother

A play that thinks it is a film, or is that a film that thinks it is a play? Either way, this muddled attempt at bringing this stage play written by Karol Wojtyla -- better known today as Pope John Paul II -- to the big screen fails miserably. The acting is incredibly wooden, the camera movement stiff, and although there is some beautifully recreated period cinematography of what appears to be Warsaw, there is way too little of it and it melds awkwardly with the stage drama presentation.

The play was originally written as a debt of gratitude to the late 19th century Polish painter Adam Cimelowski, who gave up his promising artistic career for the service of God, just as Wojtyla later did with his writing career. We have all seen excellent film adaptations of stage plays (e.g. Macbeth, A Streetcar Named Desire, Hamlet, Henry V), however, Wojtyla's prose is unfortunately no Shakespeare. As a film, this story may have succeeded if it were done in Polish and properly dramatized, cutting down on the play's incredibly boring and verbose English dialogue which is excruciatingly presented word for word.

As Pope, Wojtyla has had a tremendous hand in changing the world we live in, but if this is an example of his best writing talents, we can only thank God that he didn't keep his day job.

'Our God's Brother' is apart from the typical track Zanussi follows in his films. In fact, this film is clearly a tribute to Pope Jean Paul II, the Polish Pope, who is the writer of the novel. I individually separate the film into two. First is the film itself. It is, in fact, not a film, but the camera witnessing a theatre play. Wilson acts like a theatre actor, and I have to admit he is better in theatre than in cinema, like all the other actors in the film. The camera just finds the best angles to witness this theatre play, and they are literally the best angles. Wilson is unequivocal in his role, the lights are really good, and the theatrical environment reanimated in the film is successful. But one point, it is not something new and different under the sun. If I were forced to make a choice, I'd choose Carlos Saura's 'Bloody Wedding',the camera witnessing film to Lorca's play, Antonio Gades and Christina Hoyos, two prominent flamenco dancers of Spain, acting in the film. Unlike this film, I have to say that, though the writer is the strongest figure of Christianity in the world, 'Our God's Brother' doesn't have a soul, but quite a reactionary idea instead. Here comes my second part: This film tells about the poverty. The poverty of masses is witnessed by a Polish painter, and his life dramatically changes. First he tries to help the poor by being a benefactor, but then he understands it helps increase poverty, not for it is not the way to save the poor, but for the poor are pleased to get with the benefits of being helped, so that they don't have the motivation to save themselves from poverty. At first, I thought I might have misunderstood the moral, but after having had the opportunity to talk to Zanussi, the director who is also a close friend to Pope, in Ankara Film Festival in Turkey, I was amazed by the fact that this is what the Pope thinks. This is politically reactionary, an idea which I supposed remained in the raw capitalism era, having been the dominant ideology. But it seems it is living with the basic institution of Christianity! In the film, the painter Adam 'Hard to Write Surname', a true character, finally convinces himself and the poor to become beggars to face the worst kind of poverty, thus suffering enough to become perfect Christians. I believe there is a way for human to become rich altogether via just share of the resources of this world, and I have the question if there is no way to punish the unjust richness in this world. Pope says no, but I will look for it.