'Conclave' Review - Hollywood Deviants Want You To Have An “Open Mind”

Vatican thriller Conclave has been in theatres now for about two weeks. Based on a novel by British novelist Robert Harris, the film follows a fictional group of modern Catholic archbishops gathering to select the next pope from amongst themselves.

On its surface, the film appears to be a compelling thriller involving traditionalist, conservative, and liberal factions within the Roman Catholic Church vying for control of the papacy. The film does a good job of hiding it, but underneath its gorgeous veneer, the film is what you would expect: Hollywood gobbledygook with snooty degenerate overtones.

Over the course of the film, the leading voices of the Conclave—representing the different factions—slowly drop out of the running for one reason or another. Scandals come to light; church corruption is revealed; candidates accuse each other of sabotaging each other and concealing their true ambitions.

At the end of it all, a relative unknown is selected whose service and faithfulness to the church in the face of persecution reveals him to be the only candidate whose sincerity cannot be questioned. The trials he’s faced as the Archbishop of Kabul (capital of  Afghanistan) make the disagreements and squabbles of the other archbishops seem trivial and ridiculous.

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This inspiring newcomer, Archbishop Benitez, is not without some secrets of his own, however. Over the course of the film, Ralph Fiennes’ character quietly investigates him and eventually discovers (after Benitez is elected Pope) that the previous Pope once offered to pay Benitez’s travel expenses to visit a special ‘clinic’. When confronted about this, Benitez confesses that he is some kind of hermaphrodite—outwardly appearing male, but inwardly possessing female reproductive organs, a condition he was not aware of until well into adulthood and was hospitalized for appendicitis. He is genetically female, but was born with male genitalia. The archbishop reveals that he ultimately chose not to visit the clinic to have his female parts removed, stating “I am as God made me.”

The film concludes with Ralph Fiennes’ character choosing to keep this information to himself. Whether or not anyone else will discover the new Pope’s condition, or what the aftermath of such a revelation would be, is left unresolved.

Some viewers, expecting the film to promote degeneracy, like virtually everything else coming out of Hollywood these days, might find this ending confusing, since the Benitez character turns out (surprisingly) to not actually be a degenerate, just someone with a rare and bizarre medical condition.

This kind of storytelling is a throwback to a style of Hollywood subversion that was more common a few decades ago, when Hollywood writers could plausibly deny they were doing anything wrong, that they were ‘just trying to make you consider opposing points of view’ rather than openly shoving degeneracy in your face and pretending that it’s normal. It is reminiscent of an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, “The Outcast” (1992), in which the crew of the Enterprise encounter a race of androgynous space aliens.

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The fictional character Archbishop Benitez might not be a degenerate, but it is clear that Hollywood executives saw him as an obvious stand-in for sexually confused individuals who think they can switch from one gender to the other. The point of the film is to normalize transsexualism, to make you feel more “open-minded” towards the sexually confused or indeterminate. The film would never have been made if Hollywood executives had not recognized the metaphor and began salivating at its subversive potential.

In addition to the transsexual overtones, Conclave also contains a fair helping of Hollywoodized Christianity, portraying “tolerance” as the highest of virtues, with both Ralph Fiennes’ character and Archbishop Benitez delivering stirring monologues about its supposed paramount importance.

Nothing is mentioned about repentance or following Christ. Beyond being patient with each other as we “work out our salvation in fear and trembling” (Philippians 2:12), tolerance is not a Christian virtue.

What do you make of Hollywood’s subversion with Conclave? Become a paid member to leave a comment and let us know.

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