“Only those who do not seek power are qualified to hold it,” Plato
Mysteries abound in the Catholic Church, from the virgin birth to the transubstantiation, but rarely will you witness a mystery you can solve. Conclave, a thriller about the fictional selection of a pope, shows more about the ambitions of many “papabili” (those qualified to become pope) than it does about doctrine.
The Curia is a curious place where cardinals reside and ambitions are rampant along with vice, jealousy, bigotry, and lies. Dean Lawrence (Ralph Fiennes) is almost devoid of ambition (see Plato’s adage above). Consequently, the ambitious rumors come to him and thus to us. At times the shenanigans seem ripped right from our current presidential election, where, as it gets close to November, we hear even more rumors and plain bad will.
Lawrence, a dignified man with scruples, tells why his own doubts are characteristic of emerging wisdom: "Faith is a living thing because it walks hand in hand with doubt. With certainty, there is no need of faith," he preaches. "Let us choose a Pope who doubts.” For Lawrence, a candidate who is all certainty will as pope drag the institution back, failing to keep it fresh and contemporary.
Director Edgar Berger helms with a steady hand on the intimacies kept from the crowds waiting for The Vatican’s smoke to announce a new pope. Such secrecy lends itself to a fine thriller, whose secrecy is nectar for the audience which can claim to be in on it all.
Besides the clues and considerations, we watch the human drama of competing for the big prize and not quite the best candidates. Nuns, however, can be relied on, especially Sister Agnes (Isabella Rossellini), who watches and intrudes only when necessary.
After a reveal or two, things settle down to what it is, just a good thriller with the college of cardinals providing juicy bad boys.
Not all popes have been perfectly holy: witness Pope John Paul’s covering up sex abuse cases and Pope Benedict XVI formerly being a Hitler Youth. Or read Dan Brown’s Angels & Demons. However, in this unabashedly fictional Conclave, the cardinals may choose a man who “sins and asks for forgiveness.” Or, a Platonic choice of lacking ambition, too. And a measure of doubt.
Conclave
Director: Edward Berger (All Quiet on the Western Front)
Screenplay: Peter Straughan, from the book by Robert Harris
Cast: Ralph Fiennes (Schindler’s List), Stanley Tucci (Spotlight)
Rating: PG
Length: 2h
John DeSando, a Los Angeles Press Club first-place winner for National Entertainment Journalism, hosts NPR’s It’s Movie Time and Cinema Classics as well as podcasts Back Talk and Double Take (recently listed by Feedspot as two of the ten best NPR Movie Podcasts) out of WCBE 90.5 FM, Columbus, Ohio. Contact him at JohnDeSando52@gmail.com