Film Review: In Viaggio – The Travels of Pope Francis & Spinning Gold

Hitting the Heights

In Viaggio: The Travels of Pope Francis and Spinning Gold

Reviews by Marc Glassman

In Viaggio: The Travels of Pope Francis

Gianfranco Rosi, director

Starring: Pope Francis

Spinning Gold

Timothy Scott Bogart, director and script and co-producer

Starring: Jeremy Jordan (Neil Bogart), Jay Pharoh (Cecil Holmes), Michelle Monaghan (Beth Bogart), Lyndsy Fonseca (Joyce Blawitz), Jason Isaacs (Al Bogart), Dan Fogler (Buck Reingold), Sebastian Maniscalco (Giorgio Moroder), Ledisi (Gladys Knight), Pink Sweats (Bill Withers)

I’m not a Catholic but it’s always impressive to see a miracle. Award-winning director Gianfranco Rosi has performed one, making a relevant film about the current Pope, Francis, delivering messages of peace and hope to a world ravaged by war and suffering. Over the course of the film, In Viaggio: The Travels of Pope Francis, we follow the pontiff as he delivers homilies to worshippers, politicians and religious non-Catholic colleagues, including Muslims and Jews, over nearly a decade. During what has been a terrible time for so many of us, Pope Francis has spoken comforting words all over the world.

Rosi shows the Pope bravely talking to people angry at him. We see him speaking to Chilean women upset because he has defended the controversial Father Barros of sexual abuse charges—and after much pressure, he eventually apologizes to them. In Canada, as we know, he apologizes for the residential school system, which destroyed the lives of countless Indigenous children, but his language is careful to avoid specifically accepting the Church’s responsibility for sexual and emotional abuse. Everywhere the Pope goes, he says brilliant things about war and poverty and human dignity without actually making an impact apart from making his believers somewhat happier. 

Gianfranco Rosi is a brilliant documentary filmmaker, who has won awards at Venice and Berlin for such hard-hitting films as Fire at Sea about North Africans attempting illegal landings in Sicily and Notturno, which showed the devastating effects of war in Syria, Lebanon, Kurdistan and Iraq. Here he shows the Pope traveling to devastated areas of the world and, well, pontificating. 

Rosi films the Pope going to Israel and performing the difficult task of apologizing to the Jews for the Holocaust while also showing support for the Palestinians. In the Central African Republic, he embraces Catholics and Muslims during a devastating civil war. Wherever he can, Pope Francis sincerely and eloquently promotes peace, love and understanding. There are long and persuasive scenes with the Pope being embraced by his followers in Brazil, Kenya, the Philippines, Cuba and even the United States. 

Pope Francis is a star. Rosi’s film emphasizes his humanity. The Pope is a wonderful speaker, whose language is poetic, passionate, and persuasive. The Pope’s humility makes him intensely loveable to his acolytes. Despite any criticism one might have about the Papal office, Francis is one of the most beloved figures in the world. 

Gianfranco Rosi has made a film about a Pope dealing with a complex and difficult world. He has not white-washed Francis’ problems at all. In Viaggio: The Travels of Pope Francis could have been a throw-away piece. It’s not.  

Spinning Gold, this week’s other film, is about someone who also has an intense belief in himself. But Neil Bogart only wanted to change the world through music, not religion. Bogart was originally named Bogatz and must have loved the iconic film star since the record label he founded was called Casablanca. In the film, he’s presented as a lovable hustler, always trying to make a buck with the hottest new act and catchiest song. 

Since Spinning Gold is written and director by Bogart’s son Timothy, what we get is a cleaned-up, fictionalized version of Neil’s astonishing career. While we see that Bogart did pay off disc jockeys to play his records and borrowed millions of dollars from mobbed up wise guys, the film treats him kindly, as a man who loved music, gambling, and women.  

As played by Broadway stage actor Jeremy Jordan, Neil Bogart is a happy hustler from the Brooklyn housing projects, with a gift for the gab and an ear that can identify potential hit singles. He’s charmingly non-racist with a close Black friend Cecil and a string of Black hit makers including Gladys Knight, the Isley Brothers, Bill Withers, George Clinton’s Parliament and Funkadelics, and Donna Summers. 

Starting in his early 20s, Bogart was the record executive who launched hit after hit, creating two of the hottest music trends of the period, bubblegum music and disco. That’s right, he’s the man behind the hits “Yummy, yummy, yummy” and “Love to love you baby.” Identifiable songs that helped to define the 60s and 70s, though not in the best possible ways.

Spinning Gold is sentimental about Neil Bogart. We see him supporting his luckless hustler of a father and somehow treating his ex-wife lovingly. The storyline, such as it is, revolves around Bogart’s increasing indebtedness to the Mafia until Donna Summers and disco saves the day. You find yourself cheering along as this hustling record executive makes Kiss into a superstar rock group and turns Casablanca Records into a multi-million dollar enterprise.

Will Timothy Scott Bogart emulate his father and have a hit with Spinning Gold? I don’t think people will pay to see the film in theatres but when it’s on a streaming service, it should be popular. If you’re going to spend money on a film this week, go for Pope Francis.