Suspenseful and Riveting with a Great Stellar Cast

(112124) The Conclave is an outstanding drama that delves deeply into the structure, inner workings and traditions of the Roman Catholic Church. Unlike many cinematic portrayals of the modern Catholic church such as Spotlight, this is not a primarily negative view of the church, and it tries to be fair minded. It portrays some of the priests as unethical but most are flawed, well-intentioned human beings. The film was based on a novel of the same name by Robert Harris. The screenplay was written by playwright Peter Straughan, who also co-wrote the acclaimed film version of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.

The Conclave was directed by German film maker, Edward Berger who made the highly acclaimed remake of All Quiet on the Western Front which included a memorable sympathetic portrayal of a German soldier. While All quiet on The Western Front was a solid and respectable film with some spectacular scenes, The Conclave comes much closer to achieving greatness. Berger makes the best use of a top notch almost all male cast including Ralph Fiennes, John Lithgow, and John Turturro, Isabella (La Chimera) Rossellini plays the one major female character, a sympathetic nun, Most of the cast members give Oscar caliber performances and this is one of the best ensemble casts of the year.

The film starts out with the untimely death of current the pope. Cardinal Lawrence (Ralph Fiennes) is deeply devastated by the death of his friend. He is tasked with assembling a conclave or secluded assemblage to pick the new pope. One of his closest allies, Bellini (played by Stanley Tucci) is a progressive who wants to keep the church on a path to modernization and he wants to expand the role of women in the church. His main rival, Tedesco (Sergio Castelllitto) is very anti-reform and wants to erase all the Vatican II changes. He's also seemingly prejudiced against Muslims and women. If the film has any bias, it clearly favors more liberal and modern religious leaders and it generally presents them in a more positive light.

Their competition includes the worldly and corrupt, Trembly, (John Lithgow). The Nigerian contender. Adeyemi (Lucian Msamati) is ideal in some ways, but there are hints that he is anti-gay. The most interesting of the bunch is the ultra-progressive third world candidate from Mexico who was working in Afghanistan, Benitez (Carlos Diehz), who is mysterious and he turns out to be the best overall orator.

In some ways the whole secretive process mirrors the American political landscape during the recent election. Like the people involved in the presidential election process there are people that want to push forward, conservatives that want to restrict diversity and cheaters willing to win by doing anything necessary.

Fiennes’s Cardinal Lawrence is one of his finest roles. The character makes a terrific and intelligent detective figure, and he finds out that some of the candidates have skeletons in their closets which could disqualify them. There are lots of behind-the-scenes manipulation. The deceased pope knew some secrets about one of the contenders and he wanted to relieve him of his duties, but he didn’t get the chance. Another of the pope rivals, is linked to a mysterious women who has been summoned by a rival pope candidate to destroy his chances in the race. Also, there is reason to believe someone had the old pope killed which some people think happened to one of the real-life pope, Pope John Paul I who died under mysterious circumstances in 1977.

The Conclave is filled with plot twists and turns which h will keep the audience guessing. It is a fresh, challenging and suspenseful film that takes the viewer into new and rarely explored territory. It is still only November, but along with Alora which I will review soon, it is sure to be remembered as one of the finest and smartest dramatic American films of the year.