This has been a very sparse year when it comes to good films, especially when it comes to drama, and now that we have one in The Conclave, it’s already being proclaimed by many as the best and most suspenseful drama of the year. And I agree with that judgment about this 2 hour film. First of all the acting is Oscar worthy in several cases, especially in the case of Ralph Fiennes, but also Isabella Rossellini, Stanley Tucci, and John Lithgow. Furthermore, the narrative holds your attention throughout. There’s plenty of intrigue, plenty of tension, plenty of mystery, and some good speeches and one liners as well, even a good homily by Fiennes. The movie was filmed at a studio in Italy with a recreated Vatican that is indistinguishable from the real thing— and I’ve been all over the real one including having an audience with the current Pope in one of the buildings.
The process of voting for the new pope seems to be meticulously accurate in its portrayal, and as the film shows, it can take quite a long time, especially if there is no obvious leading candidates or two such candidates. The film does a good job of portraying genuine Christian faith, but also human doubts, sins, foibles, pride, scheming, and more. The central homily hammers home the message that ‘certainty’ on the part of some in an enterprise that requires faith, and is not beyond several interpretations, is a danger. As the homily says– if we had air tight certainty about all things doctrinal, we would not need to have faith. Faith is not opposed to knowledge, but it is a matter of faith seeking understanding— fides quaerens intellectum.
There is a lot of Latin in this film, but also subtitles where necessary. And the cinematography should certainly win an award.
I’m glad this film was made, especially in a season where Christianity has in some cases in America become unequally yoked together with the wrong sort nationalism. Lord have mercy……
English (US) · 