Woke Mind Virus No. 2

 

Conclave

The Hollywood Ending

There is a new big-budget film with an "A" list cast that will soon be released, but is it just another big-budget bash at the Catholic Church from the mainstream media? So what is the film all about? Well, it seems to me that this is Hollywood's attempt to influence the choosing of the next pope. For, of course, all the teachings, morality, and theology of the Catholic Church are intrinsically evil! Here is the film's blurb from IMDb:

 

When Cardinal Lawrence is tasked with leading one of the world's most secretive and ancient events, selecting a new Pope, he finds himself at the center of a conspiracy that could shake the very foundation of the Catholic Church.

 

The pope is dead. Behind the locked doors of the Sistine Chapel, 118 Cardinals from all over the globe will cast their votes in the world's most secretive election. They are holy men. But they have ambition. And they have rivals. Over the next 72 hours, one of them will become the most powerful spiritual figure in the world.

High end production values

 The film is being tipped as an Oscar winner, and Ralph Fiennes as best actor. Critics are raving over it, with reviewers gushing that this film is so entertaining, so slick, and it's fantastic because it differentiates between "religion" and "faith". Modern reviews know all about faith and especially the Catholic faith, of course, it is a self-perpetuating conversation; the Church must change! And if Hollywood, that bastion of good taste and culture, can push the Church to a more loving, liberated, and progressive institution, more in tune with the modern world, it will do it. And Conclave, the latest secular incursion into the realms of the Church, is their latest attempt.

 

A stellar cast

No apology spoilers:

The film revolves around Fr Lawrence the Camerlengo (the Cardinal Chamberlain who runs the Conclave). Described as a thriller, the film consists mainly of a number of conversations and the jostling for power of the various cardinals. The writing is powerful. The cinematography and sets are fantastic, the production values are of the highest quality. This, by all accounts, is a gripping entertaining thriller. However, once again, we have the dichotomy that everything that is well made, well put together, and fantastic fun-filled entertainment is actually good; it's certainly not good for Christianity and therefore it is, in fact, evil. Will the sheer brilliance of this film do the damage to what's left of the traditional Catholic Church that the filmmakers hope and make them a load of money on the way?

            The battle is between a Traditionalist Latin Mass-saying Cardinal who is depicted as a nasty fundamentalist and the kinder liberal-minded Cardinals, who listen to nuns even, Sr Agnes, played by Isabella Rossellini, is given some "great" lines to undermine traditional male roles. However, the film appears to end with the liberals well on top with the election of a last-minute Cardinal creation by the last pope before he died, who is in fact, a biological woman. Traditional Catholic morals are then thrown out the window as the Church presses forward into a new liberated progressive wonderland.