This movie is a great challenge to my deep-rooted cinicism when it comes to religion, and especially the catholic church, an institution that has surrounded me my whole life and that i've always rejected. The thought that most often popped into my head watching it was that the real story can not have been this "pretty", it felt too heartwarming and cute to represent something as corrupted as the catholic church. However, if you ignore the real life reference to this, no doubt, partly fictional version of it, you get a great, entertaining, moving film about two powerful, loved, yet highly flawed people, that try to find common ground in tolerance for the sake of some greater good. If only high-level Catholicism in the real world was as tolerant and human as this movie makes it look...

Technically wise, the way Meirelles shoots this movie to make it look like a documentary was inspired and makes for a very interesting and fun watching experience. I love his filmmaking style!