Vatican set papal thriller Conclave is a predictably anti-Catholic screed on the current state of the Church as told through a biased perspective that will appease secular audiences yet warrant condemnation from Christians who know better.
Based on the Robert Harris book of the same name, to describe Conclave as akin to a trashy melodrama written by Dan Brown (The Da Vinci Code) would be apt. Yet in their bid to be ‘brave and bold’ and take on the big, bad Catholic Church, director Edward Berger (All Quiet on the Western Front) and screenwriter Peter Straughan (Tinker Tailor Soldier Story) have mistaken exploitation for intelligence and shallow-deep commentary for depth.
Conclave begins with the death of an unnamed pope. With his room sealed and death ruled as by natural causes, the first steps are taken to find the next pontiff through the process of a papal conclave, in which Catholic Cardinals from all over the world gather in seclusion at the Vatican until they chose who will be the successor of Saint Peter and lead the Catholic Church.
Charged with leading the conclave is Cardinal Lawrence (Ralph Fiennes) who is presented as a rational and morally upstanding man from the liberal section of the Church. True to cliché, Lawrence is also written as a man who is struggling with his faith, since of course every protagonist in a Catholic-tinged movie must have a crisis of faith.
Several key figures are in line for the papacy: Cardinal Bellini (Stanley Tucci) the pro-LGBT candidate from America; Cardinal Adeyemi (Lucian Msamati) from Nigeria who is the odds-on favourite; the shrewd Cardinal Tremblay (John Lithgow); and mysterious newcomer Cardinal Benitez (Carlos Diehz.)
Then there is Cardinal Tedesco (Sergio Castellitto) the Italian staunch conservative who envisions a Church that embraces its pre-Vatican II traditions. According to Conclave to be a conservative Catholic is to be a racist, xenophobic remnant of a medieval era of the Church. Castellitto adds his own flourishes in his portrayal of Tedesco as a grouchy troll-like figure.
All these men harbour some sort of dark secret dealing with corruption or sexual scandal to the point of eye-rolling predictably, not to mention a glaring hypocrisy considering the film industry have long had their own sexual abuse scandals including the abhorrent crimes of Harvey Weinstein, with whom Fiennes worked with on several projects. Robert Harris, meanwhile, has worked with convicted rapist Roman Polanski on The Ghost Writer and An Officer and a Spy.
The performances in Conclave are universally good, especially from Fiennes who as a truth-seeker amidst a nest of power-hungry cardinals brings both pained sadness at his own perishing faith and a sense of hope towards a church that can “finally!” be enlightened by todays moral standards. The craft of Conclave is also fantastic, which should not be a surprise considering that the film is poised to be a major player in the upcoming awards season.
Yet as Conclave progresses, Berger sticks it to the Holy See with increased fervour. The usual talking points/criticisms regarding the role of women and the LGBT community within the Church is frequently touched upon. Then there is the films’ final act in which a “gotcha!” moment brings home the intentionally sinister and transparently provocative nature of the whole trashy enterprise.
While Conclave presents itself as an intelligent verbal thriller about those who seek power in one of the worlds most powerful institutions, the film is nothing more than a hit-piece on the Catholic Church as a religion and especially an institution and proves again that the only Catholic film Hollywood is interested in making is an anti-Catholic film.
