I needed a dose of honesty, morality and compassion today, so Maria and I went to see the documentary, Pope Francis: A Man Of His Word.

I loved seeing this movie, it gave me the boost and inspiration I need periodically to stay positive and hopeful about this world.

I will be honest and say that as a movie cinematically it was a B-, it was sometimes ploddiing and unimaginatively produced. Director Wim Wenders  was clearly awe of  Francis, and seemed to be overwhelmed by him. I expect a bit more digging from a documentary, this was like a breathless fanzine from the beginning to the end.

But the Pope’s genuine, loving, and even radical ideas came through clearly and well. His goodness and stirring vision of Christianity and the environment and the vulnerable carried the movie, even helped it to soar at times.

What is radical about Pope Francis is that he is the literal embodiment of Jesus Christ and his teachings.  Unfortuantely, those are not considered radical in the contest of Christianity.

In the political haze surrounding religion in America, many people seem to have forgotten that Jesus was himself a  radical advocate for the poor, he preached relentlessly and angrily about the rich  – embracing the poor was almost the point of his  faith and at the heart  ofhis idea about religion.

It was, in many ways, the dominant idea behind Christianity, although you would not know it to see the mansions of the rich evangelicals who are now a virtual wing of the Republican Party.

They better hope that Jesus does not actually come back, he was not a great fan of the wealthy or their palaces.

Pope Francis comes through a very sweet and compassionate man, and the most vibrant  religious figure in the world.

He is averse to proselytizing, or making pious judgements about gay people or women.  He lives simply, and by example, not decree.

He refused to move into the lush Papal residence of the Vatican, but in a simply apartment on the edge of Vatican City. He gave up the heavily armored black limousines favored by American politicians for a modest little Ford Pinto. I wish that Cabinet members could live so simply.

Pope Francis is perhaps now the only remaining powerful world figure who actually still worries about the poor and the refugees and challenges the rest of us to help take better care of both.

He points out that 20 per cent of the people in the world control 80 per cent of our wealth, and challenges Christians to think about what they really need. The growing wealth gap between the rich and the poor is, he says, a “scandal.”

Francis  reminds us that the poorest thing on the earth is Mother Earth, now being ravaged and polluted and abused by the very humans charged by God to take care of her. These do not seem like  radical ideas to me but in the context of our times I suppose they are.

The best parts of the movie for me are Francis traveling to Africa, South America, prisons, hurricane-ravaged countries, children’s hospitals and  nursing home wards. He kisses the feet of the poor and the imprisoned, he calls on us to listen, not talk to much, and practice a faith of compassion.

Wender chose not to dig into Francis’s past, and so we love him, but have no better sense of where he came from or how he evolved. Wender chose to  stay very much in the present and ask no tough questions.

As one who has been inspired by Jesus, St. Francis and Pope Francis, I was lifted up by this movie, and by the simple and stirring vision this man is offering humanity, as time runs out for us to value the earth, curb war and genocide and  care for the poor and vulnerable.

For thousands of years, these were not considered  woo-woo ideas from fringe figures in the Christian faith, they were originally the point of Christianity in the first place. That was just about all Jesus every talked about, according to the records that exist from his time.

Francis is the reincarnation of that Christianity, it’s  wonder those rich and fat Cardinals haven’t sliced the tires on his Pinto and chased him back to South America. (Jesus would go right after the Cardinals and drive them from their palaces). I am deeply touched by Pope Francis, but he has had some controversies in his life, and the film didn’t  refer to or even mention any of them.

Jesus may not have come back to us, as some has promised, but I would not be stunned to learn that he inhabited the body and soul of this gentle and feeling man, and returned through a back door. Francis reminds us what faith and religion is truly  about, He also reminds us why so many people have abandoned their faith.

I could have done without the old footage of a St. Francis actor looking grim and earnest from an old movie about him that Director Wim Wenders used at the beginning and end of this film. The real Francis doesn’t need the help.  Pope Francis has the most wonderful smile, and a huge heart,  he revealed that he prays every morning for a sense of humor.

In this movie, Pope Francis is both charming and intuitive, and if the movie could have been cinematically enlivened, I wasn’t bored for one second listening to Francis’s ideas. I have rarely felt more in sync with religious figure, even though I am not a Christian. I was grateful for him today. I never took my eyes off of him or even  yawned.

The movie was plodding at times. There were too many shots of Francis sitting in a big Papal chair and giving what was essentially a sermon. The most  revealing images were of him out traveling the world, rallying the poor and imprisoned and storm and war ravaged people of the world. Show, don’t tell.

He seems to be to be the most genuine and empathetic political or cultural figure in the world.

And one of the most admired. He is  adored by the poor, no one else on earth seems to be listening to them at all.

Listening to Francis, there is the sad sense that he is not really getting anywhere, trying to get the world to care for its Mother and salve the poor. There is something Quixotic about his quest right now, the world may love  him but no one is jumping to follow his message.

In fact, we seem to be going the other way. His faith is a test for  himself and for the rest of us, and he gave me great hope today. He believes love is powerful. We’ll see.

I enjoyed this movie, for it’s mostly minor flaws. I recommend it highly. I think this is a film a lot of people would  benefit from seeing, especially if they are despairing about the world right now.

The message from the movie is that It is possible to be powerful and honest and compassionate. And think what the world would be like of people like Pope Francis really ran it. That idea could bring a lot of  people back to faith.