The Immediacy & Realism of Cinematographer Cesar Charlone’s Work in The Two Popes

In Netflix’s The Two Popes, director Fernando Meirelles’ fictionalized, engaging take on the friendship between Pope Francis and the Pope Emeritus, Benedict XVI, the closer to the present the two men are depicted, the lighter the atmosphere becomes. Bergoglio (Oscar-nominated Jonathan Pryce) and Ratzinger (Anthony Hopkins) spar over issues from divorce to the Catholic Church’s protection of pedophile priests, against brightly-lit backdrops like the Sistine Chapel (recreated in minute and much-praised detail) and Castel Gandolfo,