In Viaggio: The Travels of Pope Francis

This is not “an inside look,” or even a broad overview of this particular papacy. It is enlightening, though, to see Pope Francis in so many different contexts.

For most of its 82-minute run-time, it’s as if the film is just jumping between news clips of speeches, accompanied by the silence of someone assembling a holy YouTube playlist.

A repetitious feel begins to take over. For some viewers, quietude may yield to boredom.

The film unfolds at an excessive remove from its subject matter, and it becomes less an incisive thesis about the pope than an occasion for Gianfranco Rosi to flex his stylistic muscles.

A polite but conflicted portrait of a man whose gestures of empathy and even contrition toward his legions of followers are undercut by his absurd remove from their reality — a world he tours extensively, but never inhabits.

It doesn’t offer easy answers, and it certainly doesn’t suggest that the Catholic Church has them either -- but it’s a moving reflection on the world’s trials, and a tribute to those who seek to change them.

A pilgrimage with Pope Francis to visit the people and express his concerns for the world.

Even a modestly flawed documentary about a major world leader is inevitably fascinating, simply due to the very nature of its subject matter.

It's a fascinating look at Pope Francis, and the people who revere him, through many years of his travels.

The documentary consists almost entirely of archival news footage. Therefore, nothing new is revealed. It's an up-close but not very personal compilation of Pope Francis' international tour visits and some of his inspirational speeches.