This Polish-Italian-British co-production recounts the rise of Pope John Paul II, covering much the same ground as the two award-winning films by Andrzej Wajda, Man of Iron and Man of Marble. This film skirts around the actual life of the pope-to-be, preferring to tell his story through events that formed his life in post-war years. As such, it is a rambling but frequently fascinating panorama of Polish history, although many of the cast are English-speaking actors, such as Christopher Cazenove, Sam Neill, Lisa Harrow, Maurice Denham, Warren Clarke and Kathleen Byron.

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