My hopes were so high but Nanni Moretti’s Habemus Papam isn’t doing so well with reviewers at Cannes and I don’t think we have a winner here. Reports are of an “amiable” and amusing movie, but as Salvatore Izzi, writing in the Catholic newspaper Avvenire put it, “Habemus Papam was not as mean as it could have been”.
Nanni Moretti is known for his left-wing protests, and when it was learned that he was taking on the Catholic Church a left-wing protest was practically mandated by the press. I have not had the chance to see it, and when I have had that chance I’ll write about it, but I seriously hope that Moretti is not being penalized for not attacking the church in the name of an angry mob who was expecting revenge on Catholicism.
Nanni Moretti says that he made the movie he wanted to make and I have always found it tedious when reviewers judge a film for what it isn’t instead of what it is. Cannes wanted a protest film and apparently Habemus Papam isn’t one.
I don’t know if I’ll love it or hate it, but I don’t think that I’ll hold anything against Moretti for not adequately punishing the Catholic Church.
I Love Italian Everything 