Conclave (9/10)

by Tony Medley

120 minutes.

PG

The Roman Catholic Church is one of the world’s greatest bureaucracies. But talk about inscrutable, the Church takes the cake. While its Pope is represented as God’s agent on earth (“Thou art Peter and upon this Rock I will build my Church), the way a Pope is chosen is not waiting for a bolt from heaven indicating the chosen one. It is an arcane, secretive procedure in which the College of Cardinals gets together sequestered in secret to make a choice. And the choice is made by semi-secret ballot. So it’s a purely human endeavor but it is completely hidden from the public.

Now comes along author Robert Harris and his book “Conclave,” screenwriter Peter Straughan, and director Edward Berger to present their idea of what it might be like when one Pope dies.

What happens is that a bunch of politically motivated men are put in seclusion until they reach a 2/3 majority vote. This film is a brilliant imagining of one such convocation after a beloved Pope has died. Cardinal Lawrence (Ralph Fiennes) is the dean of the college of cardinals and runs the election. This one is a contention between the liberals, led by Cardinal Bellini (Stanley Tucci) and the Conservative, Cardinal Tremblay (John Lithgow), who yearns for the old days, when the question “is the Pope Catholic” was rhetorical (which it is not today with today’s Pope). But he is so manipulative he would make a Democrat proud. There’s not a dirty trick that is beneath him.

The acting is superb, the production values outstanding, and the film’s first 110 minutes is worthy of a 10/10 rating. Unfortunately, it goes on for 120 minutes and I rate the final minutes 0/10, which averages out to my final 9/10. All I can say about the ending is to quote Moss Hart’s advice to budding playwrights, if you want to send a message, use Western Union.