Based on George Weigel’s book of the same title, WITNESS TO HOPE provides an in-depth exploration of the experiences and personalities that helped forge the character of the man the world knew as Pope John Paul II. Shaped by the terrors of Nazi-occupied Poland and the subsequent brutalities of the Communist era, John Paul II became one of the world’s greatest proponents of religious freedom and human rights. With rare historical stills and archive film and original location shooting in Rome and Poland, this richly textured documentary traces the personal life and struggles of the first non-Italian pope in more than 450 years.