СРЕДЊОВЕКОВНИ ЈУНАК НАШЕГ ДОБА: МЛА­ДИ ПА­ПА ПАОЛА СОРЕНТИНА
MEDIEVAL HERO OF OUR TIME: PAOLO SORRENTINO’S THE YOUNG POPE

Summary/Abstract: Italian artist Paolo Sorrentino has marked the first decades of the 21th century not only in the art of film-making, but also in literature. Apart from several significant films that he directed, he published two novels and one collection of short stories. It is therefore not surprising that his series The Young Po­pe (2016) possesses distinct literary characteristics. In fact, it is more a filmed novel in ten chapters than a typical TV series. Although the artistic expression of The Young Po­pe ‒ the characters, situations, music, editing ‒ is very contemporary and the issues that the series tackles may be considered universal, this work brings to life specific, and to an extent “hagiographic“, medieval topics. This is manifested most clearly in the main protagonist, pope Pius XIII, who is the subject of our analysis in this article. The portray of Lenny/Pius XIII is created on the principles of a medieval hero ‒ a saint, and the story of his life contains the features of a hagiographic narrative, such as: exceptional personality demonstrated since childhood, exposure to various temptations, the ability to perform miracles, the holiness. The Pope’s ability to perform miracles, along with his faith ‒ which is relentessly and inexplicably tormented by doubts, and yet remains unswerving ‒ make him not only a saint, but a real medieval saint, a fully devout anchorite. He is a monk who does not deprive himself of the 21st century comfort of the papal lifestyle, while his self-deprivations are essentially of spiritual nature. It may seem at first glance that this type of a hero exists in the art of different epochs, but in fact it is typical of the medieval literature in which a strong faith and a complete, unquestionable loyalty to God are above all other human virtues and are key features of a hero in the medieval, hagiographic narrative.

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