The Agony and the Ecstasy

Depending on the version you see, this film starts with a gorgeously scored trip around some of the museums of Italy and of the Vatican allowing us to put the sheer magnificence of the talent of Michelangelo Buonarroti into context - and the volume and quality of that body of work, condensed into ten minutes or so, makes this worth watching just as a lesson in the history of art! The story is set during the Papacy of Julius II (Rex Harrison) the warlike, but artistically enlighted Pontiff who commissions and unwilling Charlton Heston to paint the ceiling of the rather run-down Sistine Chapel. Reluctantly, he sets about his task and over the years it takes to complete, Sir Carol Reed explores how their relationship might have evolved. Harrison is not good, there's no denying it - his performance is wooden and his delivery of an admittedly stilted script lacks any charisma. Heston, on the other hand, is better - though perhaps overly theatrical - as the angst-ridden artist who initially hates the idea of painting something 70 foot up in the air, but by the end is completely obsessed. Philip Dunne's screenplay is not his finest; it is wordy and thick - but it does manage to combine history and fiction in a fashion as to give us a glimpse of just how fragile Julius II' 10 year Pontificate was at the start of the 16th Century. Alex North lost out on the Oscar to Maurice Jarre's ""Dr. Zhivago" score but otherwise would surely have scooped the prize as a sumptuous accompaniment to this better than average historical drama.