This film by Oscar winner Edward Berger has five important Golden Globe nominations. The argument starts with unexpected death of the Pope. This is a Pope who has had a reputation for leading the Church along paths of modernization and progress, but who apparently lost his faith in it. When the conclave begins, the cardinals are polarized between those who want to return to the past, whose leader is Cardinal Tedesco (Sergio Castellito) and those who want to continue advancing along the paths of acceptance of the cultural and moral changes of our time, led by Cardinal Bellini (Stanley Tucci).
In the first votes, the favorites are the African Cardinal Adeyemi, who hides an unspeakable secret, and Cardinal Trembley, a corrupt ambitious man. The grand master of ceremonies and orchestrator of the Conclave is the Dean of the College of Cardinals, Monsignor Thomas Lawrence (Ralph Fiennes), the protagonist of the film, a man in spiritual crisis but with integrity, who wants to fulfill his mission correctly and impeccably. Just when voting is about to begin, an unknown Mexican cardinal arrives, Benítez, archbishop of Kabul, who had been named cardinal in pectore by the late pontiff. And on the first vote he gets one vote. The plot reserves us a surprising ending which, however, is very consistent with the ideological agenda that underpins the entire film.
From Netflix production The two popes We had not seen other fiction on the topic of the Pope in current times. But the ideological humus is exactly the same: the polarization between conservatives and progressivesin which the bad guys are first and the good guys are second. Here the message is added that the only possible future for the Church is that of the acceptance of the assumptions of postmodernity. Another similarity with Meirelles’ film is that if it made an absolutely false and caricatured portrait of Benedict XVI, in the film in question the exalted and intolerant Tedesco has a surname that means “German” in Italian, in a childish reference to Ratzinger. . He proposes a religious war against Islam and blames relativism for our ills. For his part, Bellini advocates a positive outlook on divorce, homosexuality and contraceptive methods that turns his back on a past that frightens him.
The ideological proposal of the film is reflected in the Dean’s first homily: «Certainty is the great enemy of unity; It is the mortal enemy of tolerance […] May God grant us a Pope who doubts. Speech that is completed with that of Cardinal Benítez: «The Church is not tradition. The Church is not the past. The Church is what we do from now on. These messages, which have nothing to do with the true nature of the Christian faith, are embodied in the film by a set of characters. The cardinals, in whom one perceives no true faith, no joy, no hope, and very little charity. Some are dying to be dads, and others use their power to manipulate others. As Bellini says: “This is a war and you have to choose sides.” The result is a obscurantist vision of the Church, portrayed as an institution whose only criterion is power. In this framework, Cardinal Benítez appears as the counterpoint of humility and kindness, and although he proposes the overcoming of sides and rejects power dynamics, faith in Christ is not the content of his speech either, but rather an altruistic goodism as universally acceptable as abstract.
Como thriller the movie is excellentwith an iron script and a performance by Fiennes that could earn him the Oscar in all fairness. The soundtrack is almost horror movie. Visually Conclave It has very brilliant moments, such as the bomb scene in Piazza del Risorgimento, or the inspiration of the Holy Spirit in the final vote. The script by Peter Straugham is based on the novel by Robert Harris, who is also a co-producer of the film. In short, an entertaining and enjoyable package that hides far from innocent message and very aligned with the unique thought. The film may go far in the Oscar race.
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