Search - Conclave (DVD) on DVD

B.J. W. (analogkid01) from CHICAGO, IL
Reviewed on 7/5/2025...

"Conclave," starring Ralph Fiennes, Stanley Tucci, John Lithgow, and Isabella Rossellini, is the fictional story of Catholic cardinals who have been tasked with electing the new pope following the death of the previous one. It's also one of the most prescient films I've ever seen.

It's pure politics, of course. Factions form, plans hatched, loyalties shifted, whispered conversations held in long, echoey marble hallways. Every (of course) man puts on a veneer of holiness and humility, while secretly choosing the name by which they'll want to be known once they're elected.

I won't go too much into the plot, which is intricate but not difficult to follow. Fiennes plays Cardinal Lawrence, who is in charge of running the conclave. Tucci plays Cardinal Bellini, the man Lawrence most wants to see elected. Lithgow plays Cardinal Tremblay, who along with Cardinal Tedesco (Sergio Castellitto) represent the "old guard" who would just as soon do away with the Vatican II reforms and force everyone to speak only Latin. They see religion as a holy war - Catholics being the "good guys," of course, and anyone else as an enemy to be beaten. The worst men possible are the front-runners with a groundswell of support. Sound familiar?

Director Edward Berger also made the recent "All Quiet on the Western Front," and he handles the script very well. It would be easy to lose track of who's who in the sea of cardinal red, but we understand who each character is, a bit of their backstory, what they want or don't want, and what they're prepared to do to get it.

Who gets elected Pope at the end? I won't say. But I'm glad I saw this movie and I hope it takes home at least a couple of the eight Oscars it's been nominated for.

Oh, and of course, the women in the film are expected to be invisible and silent. Sound familiar?

Grade: straight A

K. K. (GAMER)
Reviewed on 5/21/2025...

Slowburn suspense drama with lots of. Twists and turns.