Author's judgement: 
It has never happened for this weekly cinema appointment to assign more than four stars. This time we make a big exception with Pope Francis – A man of his word, a documentary film by Wim Wenders, in theaters for a few days. It is a completely exceptional event above all for the character, the absolute protagonist: Pope Bergoglio. Then because, once again Wenders' direction manages to offer a film of rare depth and completeness together with emotional suggestions not easy to find on the big screen.
More than a film, it is a documentary where, in this case, the cinema is just a container, a physical place in which to appreciate the quality of the projection technology (filmed in 4K), capable of enhancing images of a very strong impact to the highest level. It is a "work in progress" documentary because it takes us straight into the depths of the great dramas that afflict today, in the moments in which we write and read, the entire planet, the entire population. Bergoglio speaks head-on and through direct contacts with the greats of the earth about the environment, peace, war, justice, but also about happiness, smiles, humanity. No one is innocent, no one can be said to be absent from observing what is happening at any time in any place in the world. Wenders, through the eyes of the Pope and of his countless journeys, illuminates the scene, opens his gaze to all the good but above all to all the evil that afflicts humanity.
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The cinematic tale enjoys the formidable help of its extraordinary and unique protagonist. The simplicity and spontaneity that Francesco has in being in front of the camera is the same that he sees when he participates with his gaze in the life of the people he meets. His natural spectacularity, his authorial and actorial "professionalism" (if we are allowed these terms) has no equal. After all, Pope Francis is a Jesuit and he knows very well the artifices, the techniques of language through the word and the body. He flawlessly uses all the tools of dialectic, rhetoric, eloquence to go straight to the heart of the reasoning, to the synthesis of the problems. The result is immediate, the interlocutor is taken by the simplicity of the message, receives it and makes it of him. Furthermore, he perfectly masters the language of expressions, facial expressions, and, in his various expressive possibilities, uses the one that is best able to promote communication: the smile. In this way, as they say in the jargon, the Pope "holes the camera" and even when he addresses sensitive topics, such as pedophilia, he manages to make the synthesis of his thought immediately understandable.
Wenders helps him but, perhaps, not much more than necessary: the raw material is all at hand, starting from the close-up shooting sequences. The great work of this documentary is more in the choice, in the careful selection, of enormous quantities of images. There is a colossal work of research, documentation, selection and assembly guided by a hand and a sensitivity that few can have. Wenders is, in our opinion, a director capable of working on visions, on the emotions that can arise from them, as few other contemporary directors are able to do. Furthermore, Wenders is not only a director but in his boundless production he has carried out all the professions of cinema: from screenwriter to producer, from actor to photographer, and for this reason he manages to put so much mastery into his work. In the same genre of production, the documentary, we remember Good View Social Clubs 1999 and The salt of the earth of 2014 dedicated to the famous photographer Sebastião Salgado. We cannot fail to mention some of his masterpieces: Over the time of '76, The state of things of '82, Paris, Texas of 1984 and The sky above Berlin of '87.
The five stars are a tribute due to a Master of spirituality together with a Master of Cinema. In this case, let us, with a capital C.
