Picks and Pans Review: From a Far Country: Pope John Paul Ii

UPDATED 12/21/1981 at 01:00 AM EST • Originally published 12/21/1981 at 01:00 AM EST

NBC (9-11:30 p.m. ET)

Intended for theatrical release overseas, this European film about the life of Karol Wojtyla, who became the first non-Italian Pope in 450 years, is an odd mix of dramatization and newsreel footage. It's actually less a biography than an uneven lesson in 20th-century Polish history.

MONDAY, DECEMBER 21