A worldly clash behind the veil of sanctity… A Papal story…

Hilal Özdemir

As you know, the spiritual leader of the Roman Catholic Church, Pope Francis, passed away in recent weeks. Following his death, as people discussed the Pope's humble lifestyle and who the next Pope would be, I was reminded of the film Conclave, which was released last year.

The US-produced film is directed by Edward Berger. The screenplay was written by Peter Straughan, and the film stars Ralph Fiennes, Stanley Tucci, John Lithgow, and Isabella Rossellini.

There is no doubt that papal elections, which have been held for centuries, have gained even more attention with the spread of communication tools like the internet.

Once the elected Pope is announced, we have begun to learn all the information about the Pope from our smartphones with a single click. However, what we cannot learn is what happens during the election process... This is where the film Conclave comes into play.

Conclave centers on the game of thrones in the papal election. Following the Pope's death, Cardinal Lawrence is chosen to manage the election. While the papal election is underway, cardinals from all over the world arrive at the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican. Candidates are determined from among the gathered cardinals. Afterward, the Sistine Chapel, where the election will take place, is cut off from the outside world. Voting continues until the required number of votes is obtained in an election where high security measures are taken. Beyond general information about papal elections, the film strikingly reflects the games played behind the scenes of the elections.

The film begins with the death of the Pope. The ring on the deceased Pope's finger is removed, and his room is closed and sealed.

An important election like the Papacy must be conducted without fraud and without leaving room for doubt. Since the candidates will represent all Catholics in the world, they must be free from worldly matters such as all kinds of ambition, gossip, and lies.

However, throughout the film, we watch how 'holy' the process described actually is, filled with 'worldly' ambitions.

Conclave does not engage in religious propaganda; on the contrary, it reveals that leaders who seem inaccessible are human, and that they too are kneaded with mistakes and weaknesses.

As the secrets of the papal candidates are revealed in the film, the viewer rediscovers a truth: Every election is inherently political.

We see the consequences of corruption and power intoxication once again in the story of each papal candidate.

The election takes place between Tedesco, Adeyemi, Tremblay, Bellini, and Benitez, who mysteriously joins them later. Those who bribe to become candidates, those who have sexually assaulted a woman in the past, racists, and homophobes... The film combines tradition with modernity. The world changes every passing year. With this change, managers in important positions also need to keep up with this era, and a person in an important office like the Papacy needs to soften their rigid ideas to encompass the people who believe in them.

Caught in the middle of all this, Cardinal Lawrence does his best to manage a difficult process and ensure that the most suitable person for this spiritual office is elected.

Conclave is quite simple in terms of its subject and execution, but it conveys what it wants to tell in a striking way. One of the most important factors in the subject being told with such mastery is, of course, the extraordinary performance of the actors. Especially Ralph Fiennes, in the role of Cardinal Lawrence, gives such a successful performance that he conveys all the emotion of the role he plays as if he were a real cardinal.

Cardinal Lawrence: Our faith is a living thing because it walks hand in hand with doubt. Without doubt, if there is only certainty, there is no mystery. Then there is no need for faith.

This sentence explains both the understanding of Lawrence's character and the reason why he takes responsibility for the papal election throughout the film.

Now let's look at the details of the sentence...

Faith is a journey that is constantly developing, changing, and shaping within a person's inner world. The source of this vitality is doubt. Doubt allows faith to be questioned, re-evaluated, and deepened. Doubting in religion may sound like 'questioning the existence of God and the prophets,' but it is not. Believing in something blindly does not improve a person. Questioning faith (asking questions such as why I believe in this, what are the foundations of this faith) makes that faith more conscious.

If everything were known, there would be no need for effort. This would turn a person into a creature without effort, without curiosity, and one that always remains the same and does not evolve. Thus, there would be no good or evil on earth.

Returning to the film again...

Although she appears briefly, one of the prominent characters in the film is Sister Agnes. In this male-dominated world, Isabella Rossellini's character, Sister Agnes, takes the stage at a critical moment and changes the course of the election. Although nuns do not have the right to vote, what Agnes says influences the course of the election.

Conclave actually gives important messages about power struggles and elections in the world, specifically regarding the papal election.

In the film, the location, costume, lighting, camera usage, and music are as important as the script and the director. For the subject matter to be successfully conveyed to the audience, when all these elements I have listed are used in the right doses, a film with high viewing pleasure emerges. Just as the whole taste is spoiled when one of the spices added to a meal is too much, the lack or excess of any of these in the film affects the entire film. But in Conclave, everything is in the right dose.

Adapted from Robert Harris's 2016 novel of the same name, Conclave won the 'Best Adapted Screenplay' award at the 2024 Oscars.

This film, where the sacred and the worldly, the ideal and the real collide, is not just an election story; it is a mirror of human nature.

News Source: 12punto

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