Conclave, Conclave, Have You Any Point?

Though there are still films which premiere only in cinemas, you know from my previous criticism of today’s film landscape the movie theater is a place I don’t inhabit much anymore and I, thus, often wait for those few movies I want to see (Heretic, etc.) to show up on a streaming service. I thought I was going to have to wait quite a while for a “free ticket” to last year’s Conclave, which had an excellent trailer and has a fine cast. But it was given to us early by Amazon Prime Video probably due to the death of Francis and the upcoming election of a new Pope for the Catholic church.

Yeah, I don't like it, but there's never too much Tucci.

Conclave should have been the thinking person’s The DaVinci Code. Instead, it pretends to be a political thriller and mystery for all but the last few moments of the running time in which it tacks on a silly ending as a nod to progressives in the church who are trying to revise its views on subjects such as gender and sexuality, which (admittedly) Francis at least discussed openly even if no one has happy with where he sided. That is what a leader of a vast body does—pleases no one.

As a former Seminarian and student of Christian history, I can echo what we all know: the Catholic church thinks in terms of centuries, not years. Not until the Second Vatican Council (1962-’65) did the church really do what it should have done after Martin Luther’s Reformation nearly five hundred years before—that is, allow members in their various lands to hear the liturgy in their own language rather than Latin. Of course, Vatican II irritated as many as it enriched. Famously, traditional Catholics can be severe with their religion, one which lost much of its mystery with the 20th century Council (the first in over one hundred years—centuries, see?).

We have often seen believing Catholics (fewer each year who speak English) not interested in questioning, showing little depth of Scriptural knowledge, and believing it is through the church they are saved. Now that the 20th and 21st centuries have produced volumes of excellent theology among liberal Catholics, Biblical knowledge among the fold is stronger, but the faith has been hindered by that same theological work (issues of pseudepigrapha, etc.). In short, the Catholic church is becoming less and less relevant to society and yet stories from its landscapes continue to dot film and literature because they are still the largest body of Christians on Earth.

In the 21st century alone, we have had John Patrick Shanley’s play/film Doubt, the Oscar-winning Spotlight, Alex Gibney’s devastating documentary Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God, and less worthy efforts like HBO miniseries The New Pope which still attract people who have an interest in either preserving the Church as it is (or was) or to truly liberate itself from centuries of being oppressive, tyrannical, and abusive to others and its own kind. Such is the background for the setting of Conclave.

He who should not be Pope, I guess.

Many in the Curia want Stanley Tucci’s progressive character to become the next leader, some Sergio Castellitto’s more traditional stance. In the middle is the leader of the conclave, played wonderfully by Ralph Fiennes, who is looking older and seems to embody the tired church in his wrinkle-browed graven face, plus there is another conflict which might include John Lithgow’s character sending the late Pope to his untimely death, but nothing ever much becomes of that. Instead, the Pope’s secret liberal leanings reveal an unknown Cardinal—a Mexican working in Afghanistan—who arrives at the conclave. Seemingly a young man out from the shadows, eventually this Benitez is chosen as the next Pope. Since this has all been a novel and a widely seen film, I have no problem exposing the ending, which is ridiculous, cheap, and fantastical. 

The New Pope. Certainly better than Jude Law, but not appreciably.

Benitez turns out to be intersex, born with unseen female reproductive organs, and he reveals he chose to remain how he was born without surgery because God made him that way. There is so much au current muddling in the last ten minutes of the movie that I wanted to hurl the remote at the screen. Not because I sympathize with liberal Catholics, but because the idea of anyone (even Fiennes’ character) knowing this information and allowing Benitez to be Pope is complete nonsense. If it took from the 4th century of the Common Era to 2002 for the church to even begin fessing up to its wrongdoing in its worst violation to our society, what makes you think Benitez could ever be Pope? His only strong suit is that he is new blood and will most definitely retain his celibacy. Otherwise, the ending is a slap in the face to audiences, the church, and to intelligence itself. It is as I described it: tacked on, pasted like a slacktivist meme at the end of a movie that should never have been boring, but is.

Conclave places you in a strange headspace. We know though we do not admit that the Catholic stronghold on Christian thinking is gone despite whatever numbers they claim. So, you begin the piece wondering who cares about the Catholic church (?) and leaving it hating the people who are trying to reform it because I think it’s safe to say at this point, that a large population is getting more and more tired of even the word gender. And, sadly, the other “G” word—God.

What is about to happen soon in Vatican City is bound to be more interesting than anything in this movie. After all, major religious figures and some who are also criminals, will be in a conclave to decide the next few years, which will never go to someone young. The church is intelligent enough to know a young person, even devout, would bring the whole thing toppling to the ground. Maybe that would be a good thing, but it won’t happen. In a minor play and movie, Mass Appeal, from the 1980s, a young liberal Priest in Training says the ultimate purpose of the church is to become obsolete, meaning that the kingdom of Heaven should be practiced on Earth, and it will no longer be necessary. Given the church’s crimes, I hope that day is soon, but this is my own position and a contentious one. One hopes movies like Conclave will also be obsolete when people get back to wanting to tell good stories that are grounded in the reality that is, whether we like it or not.

Goodnight, Frankie.