Stories of a Generation with Pope Francis is Netflix’s new four-part documentary series inspired by the award-winning book Sharing the Wisdom of Time by Pope Francis himself, with Antonio Spadaro. Just like the book, the series is filled with heartwarming and inspiring stories recounted by old to the younger generation. The series is directed by Simona Ercolani, who also serves as the executive producer and, has the Pope at the centre as the narrator and host. Each episode is 45 minutes long.
– Stories of a Generation With Pope Francis review does not contain spoilers –
Stories of a Generation With Pope Francis:
The series starts with a very powerful thought and principle put forward by Pope Francis that it is important for the future of humanity that the young talk to the old. This statement pretty much forms the crux of the entire limited series. We see how over a year, across the globe, young filmmakers under the age of 30 have interviewed and filmed people over the age of 70 to help them with their candid and inspiring stories reach the younger generation. In total, there are 18 stories from five continents exploring the third age which must be treasured and appreciated.
Each episode of the series begins with the Pope’s shot and conversations from the Vatican City. There are four episodes in total titled ‘Love’, ‘Dreams’, ‘Struggle’ and ‘Work’, which are the four universal pillars that are instrumental in helping one generation understand the other.
In the first episode titled ‘Love’, we see Pope Francis talk about the meaning of love as he intimates us with his passion for Tango and the relationship he shared with his Grandmother, Rosa. The Pope’s grandmother appears in conversations in the later episodes too, establishing the strong bond the two shared. We meet Academy Award-winning director, Martin Scorsese who for the first time talks about his intimate life and is subsequently filmed by his daughter, director and actress Francesca Scorsese. There’s also a segment dedicated to ethologist Jane Goodall retracing her studies to make us understand that it is love that connects human beings to the animals around them.
Image Credit: Still from Stories of a Generation With Pope Francis
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The second episode is called ‘Dream’, and as one can guess, it revolves around the dreams of the older generation. We get to know how Pope Francis had once dreamt of being a poet and is also heavily influenced by the composer Sergej Sergeevic Prokof’ev. Throughout the episode, we meet different figures whose dreams align with the voice of the present generation and the ones who can look past their age to fulfil their dreams.
The third episode- Struggle starts with the segment where the Pope offers us his viewpoint on it stating how “struggle” is a reality and even though, he does not like it but, there can be no life without the wing of struggle in it. A very insightful figure we meet at the beginning of the episode is a 75-year-old photographer, Omar Badsha who talks about being part of the apartheid and the perseverance it requires to stand strong and tall. But, he isn’t all as the episode continues to show us more and more such characters.
The fourth and the final episode titled ‘Work’ find people from all over the world, including the world-famous artist, Oyenike Monica Davies-Okundaye and the famous Jerusalem chef, Moshe Basson, who makes biblical food at the age of 70!
Image Credit: Still from Stories of a Generation With Pope Francis
Stories of a Generation With Pope Francis: Final Verdict
Great for the Christmas weekend or otherwise, this short series is as informative as it is inspiring. With real people, telling you real stories, you can watch all the episodes of Stories of a Generation With Pope Francis now streaming on Netflix.
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