“Conclave” - Thoughts and prayers.

When I was a kid, my understanding of how the Catholic Church chose a new pope was they lit a fire for each cardinal and the color of the smoke determined if that guy was the next pope. Black meant go to the next name and white meant pope found. Being taught as a kid about the magic of God and Jesus, it made perfect sense that God would color the smoke. As it turns out, that is not how a new pope is chosen. In reality, the cardinals all vote and if one person doesn’t have a majority of votes, they burn all the ballots, throw a canister of black smoke on the fire to let people outside of the Sistine Chapel know there isn’t a new pope yet, then vote again. If someone wins enough votes, white smoke canister. The new film Conclave didn’t teach me these things, but it did present a very believable (yet fictional) depiction in which the cardinals behave just like all other politicians in elections - like humans.

In this story, Cardinal Thomas Lawrence (Ralph Fiennes) is leading and administering the papal conclave. Like a Catholic Mass, the film takes its sweet, sweet time actually getting to the point - in this case, the conclave itself. Much attention is paid to the details, trappings, and rituals gone through just to get to the election itself. It’s neat and beautiful and gives a feel for the gravitas of the event, but that kind of goes without saying. They’re electing the next pope, not the next town HOA treasurer.

Eventually, we are introduced to the cardinals most likely to be elected. First up is Aldo Bellini (Stanley Tucci), a liberal and supported by fellow liberal Lawrence. Next is Goffredo Tedesco (Sergio Castellitto), a traditionalist, archconservative racist who views all other religions with utter contempt. Then there is Joseph Tremblay (John Lithgow), a milder conservative than Tedesco and every bit a sly politician. Finally, we have Joshua Adeyemi (Lucian Msamati), a Nigerian and middle of the road guy on most topics, but socially conservative. Lawrence himself seems like another candidate, but he stresses multiple times that he absolutely does not want to be pope.

As if the competition between the men wasn’t enough, there is a separate mystery thrown into the mix. The deceased pope was up to something but did not let anyone in on what he was doing before he passed away. The only clue they have is the arrival of the recently elevated-to-Cardinal Vincent Benitez (Carlos Diehz). After the conclave starts, nuggets of information regarding the pope’s activities start coming to light and Lawrence starts to dig into them. With a smidgen of help from Sister Agnes (Isabella Rossellini), he uncovers truths that affect the conclave in ways that cause a whole lot more black smoke.

Maybe it’s because I’ve seen so many movies, but I immediately knew how the conclave itself was going to end. But that didn’t prevent me from enjoying the journey, following Lawrence through the investigation. Nor did it prevent that little part of me that doubted what I thought I knew from holding my breath, even if just a tiny bit, every time they announced the voting results. And I most certainly didn’t guess the why part of the pope’s mystery before it was revealed. And what an intriguing reveal it is.

While I did enjoy the film, the drama surrounding the mystery was somewhat muted. The film doesn’t do enough to invest the audience in either the mystery or the outcome of the conclave. For a film heavily relying on dialogue, surprisingly little is devoted to character development. Beyond Lawrence and Bellini, it was hard to remember who was who. The film had to literally show the leading candidates in turn, as their names and vote tallies were read after the first vote, to make sure the audience could positively identify them. With no real backstories for any of the men (or Sister Agnes, for that matter), there was no real urgency or dread evinced to make the audience want to root for or against any of them.

But again, I did enjoy the film. The mystery is at least interesting, the visual details in the various sets are stunning, and Fiennes and Tucci delivered outstanding performances. That’s not to say the rest of the cast wasn’t also good; they simply weren’t given enough to do to really stand out (Rossellini and Lithgow, in particular, seemed woefully underused). Conclave isn’t necessarily a must-see in theaters...unless you are curious how papal conclaves actually work or just really like Ralph Fiennes.

Rating: Pray for two dollars back.