Conclave

I am not a man of spiritual faith. I have no issues with those who have it, but I do not understand it. Faith is a blind trust. I need evidence. I need something tangible or visible. It's just how my brain works. And yet, I'm fascinated by faith, and movies about it. When I read the description for Conclave, I knew this would be right up my alley. A movie about the most secret ritual in organized religion -- the election of a new Pope of the Catholic Church? It's got Ralph Fiennes, John Lithgow, and Stanley Tucci leading the way? I am so there. Conclave plays out like a palace intrigue thriller, with secrets being uncovered, people jockeying for social position and currying favor, and one man in the middle of it all (Fiennes), trying to sort it all out. Fiennes plays the Dean of the College of Cardinals, who is burdened with the task of organizing and leading the conclave to elect a new Pope after the reigning one has passed. There are a number of candidates, representing different factions within the Holy See; a fundamentalist Italian who thinks the church should always revolve around Rome and that Vatican II was a mistake; an American liberal (Tucci) who wants to push the church into new ideas it struggles to consider right now; a Canadian moderate (Lithgow), a Mexican Cardinal that nobody has ever heard of before this meeting; an divisive Nigerian Cardinal; and the Dean himself, going through a crisis of conscience and faith. Each man's journey in Conclave exists to examine a different aspect of faith and both the good and the bad of it. For instance, the Italian and Nigerian Cardinals are both conservative, but the Italian Cardinal's "the church must revolve around Italy" bias runs so deep, the idea of a non-white leading the Church is offensive to him. Fiennes' character not only does not want to be Pope, he intends to resign altogether after the conclave, and yet as he uncovers secrets and back-room dealings among others, he is forced to question whether or not he has ambitions toward the Papacy. Tucci's firebrand liberal Cardinal is the mirror image of the Italian one, and can't stand the idea of taking the Church backwards. Everybody represents a different aspect of faith, and while one side does win in the end, no one side is explicitly portrayed as the bad guy or in the wrong (except the Italian guy's racism, which only the fellow Italians in the delegation seem okay with). Everyone is given equal voice. If there's a flaw to be had in Conclave, it's the need to have secrets for just about everybody. I know that's the nature of palace intrigue thrillers, but it gets to a point where, without about half an hour left and another vote happening, I thought "so what's the splash damage coming out of this vote?". It beats the shocking-twist drum a little too often, even after the new Pope is elected. Now, we all know that the Catholic Church has skeletons in its closet, which Conclave readily admits to, but it doesn't change the fact that at a certain point, the individual revelations reached a point of diminishing returns for me. And I'm not alone; a few minutes before the big final twist, my wife called it out loud. I silently dismissed it as too outlandish, even for this movie; nope, she nailed it. But I guess that's the price of admission with this kind of thriller; it's gonna be non-stop "WHOA!" moments. This is an acting and cinematography tour de force, the kind of movie to sit back and marvel at fantastic actors and beautifully frames shots. It does walk the line between being smart enough to have some things to say on faith, but also too clever with its twists, but for me, it mostly stayed on the good side of the line. It was clearly made with passion and reverence for both the Church and faith itself, but also isn't afraid to take a harsh lens to both and examine them for their potential faults. It never preaches; it merely presents. And though the twists and turns can border on going overboard, it has faith in itself and its cast to carry the day.