Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1196709
The script described a possible conversation between Pope Benedict XVI and at that time, Cardinal Mario Bergoglio. During the conversation, both characters ash backward to dierent moments in their lives, events that have aected the way they now think—and how they have changed. The challenge would be to present these worlds in a true and honest fashion and to understand the story from both of their points of view. The film's central conversation takes place in the Sistine Chapel, a masterpiece of classical art, with Michelangelo's ceiling and Last Judgement fully restored and showing its magnificent vibrant colours. The Last Judgement depicts on the right, the ascension of the faithful to meet the Lord in the kingdom of heaven, and on the left, the Fallen— their twisted faces as they descend into eternal damnation. It was a fitting background as these two heavyweights discuss the future of the troubled church. The use of these tableaux was a design feature that I discussed with Fernando and César as we traced Bergoglio's steps through Villa 31, an extraordinary slum that has risen out of nothing on the edge of Buenos Aires. The villa (favela) is made up of extraordinary shapes and colours and we discovered that the stories of this community were to be found in the murals and wall paintings celebrating their heroes and saints (for example, the great Jesuit martyr Padre Mugica), not dissimilar to the tableaux of the the Sistine Chapel. Borne from this is the story, told in the opening sequence of the film, of St. Francis' intentions to rebuild the church where "even the most glorious journey can start with a mistake." The Art Department worked alongside local artist Andy Silva and community artists who painted the story on the villa walls. It sets the tone for the design of the film where the aim is to allow the art in the film to reect the narrative. On the outskirts of Buenos Aires, the production constructed a 1970s neighbourhood where certain Jesuit priests had continued to practise during the military dictatorship and which was subsequently destroyed. econstructing some of these real and violent events had to be handled with the greatest sensitivity. In Argentina, most of my work required studying a lot about the country's architecture and history. I wanted to make interventions in real places but I also wanted the film to be truthful to those locations. Truthfulness in the landscape of the design was the intention throughout—to weave as seamlessly as possible between archive, shot material and memory. And then came ome! It is not possible to film a dramatic feature (only documentaries) within the atican walls, so the first and greatest challenge of the ome chapter was to plan how the film might achieve this and how we could build our own Sistine Chapel. E. BUENOS AIRES NEIGHBORHOOD. COMPLETED. F. ENTRANCE TO THE SISTINE CHAPEL. ILLUSTRATION. G. SISTINE CHAPEL LOWER CORNICE. DRAFTED DETAIL. F G