I will go to see it.
This is what the National “catholic” Reporter’s commentary is, in part:
Laced with the poignancy of a homily and unfolding with the nail-biting intensity of a whodunit, the most miraculous achievement about Edward Berger's "Conclave" is how it bridges its pulpy thrills with its spiritual commentary.
Adapted from Robert Harris' 2016 novel of the same name, the film follows fictional cardinals tasked with selecting a new pope when the acting Holy Father suddenly dies. A movie about the electoral process may not seem rife with cinematic potential, but the creative rendering of the particulars of this ceremony, coupled with a decisive commitment to portraying the trappings of corruption and power, make the proceedings both entertaining and thought-provoking. In a time of deserved mistrust against religious institutions, "Conclave" makes a compelling and ecclesial call for a renewed spiritual stewardship characterized by humility, meekness and, curiously, doubt…
6 comments:
I have encountered several Catholic, clergy, as well as lay, reviews of the movie Conclave. Said reviews have characterized the movie as vile, anti-Catholic trash.
The Our Sunday Visitor review of the movie (as well as additional reviews) noted that Conclave even includes a slanderous attack against Pope Benedict XVI.
From Our Sunday Visitor: "And Benedict XVI is implicitly slandered in the dialogue via an allusion to a past pontiff who fought for Hitler."
Father Zuhlsdorf, several years ago, insisted that Conclave the novel was utter trash...a vile attack against Holy Mother Church.
For what it's worth, here is Pastor (All Saints, Guilford, Indiana) Jonathan Meyer's review of Conclave. He exhorts Catholics to avoid the movie.
-- Don’t Watch This Movie! The Controversy Surrounding “Conclave” for Catholic Viewers - Fr. Meyer.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOY1LR46VOI
Pax.
Mark Thomas
Excerpts from CatholicVote:
https://catholicvote.org/priest-warns-not-watch-conclave-movie-mockery-of-faith/
(The article in question includes spoilers.)
-- Priest warns not to watch ‘Conclave’ movie, calls it ‘mockery of our fait
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CV NEWS FEED // The new movie “Conclave,” a fictional thriller about the election of a new pope, “is a mockery of our faith,” a Catholic priest in Indiana recently warned.
This film “is about eroding salvation, about mocking salvation, this is about discrediting the Holy Roman Catholic Church,” said Fr. Jonathan Meyer of All Saints Parish in Guilford, Indiana, in a recent YouTube video message.
Fr. Meyer decried various quotes from the movie, including one which he denounced as heresy.
“There has to be a point where you say, ‘Absolutely not, enough is enough,’” he said. “‘I don’t need to see ‘Conclave,’ and neither do you.’”
A professor writing for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles’ Angelus News also criticized the movie, which is based off of a novel by Robert Harris, as “a badly written, poorly researched, half-baked mystery that takes itself too seriously but turns at times into unwitting comedy.”
Stefano Rebeggiani wrote in his review of the movie that “It is so simplistic, ignorant, and shallow that it feels like it was written for an audience of 12-year-olds.”
Rebeggiani is an associate professor of Classics at the University of Southern California.
Acknowledging the film’s anti-Catholic bias, he criticized it for being “just plain bad,” noting that it is filled with “a whole lot of cliches and stereotypes.”
“I am not surprised that a movie so bad was produced,” Rebeggiani concluded: “I am surprised to see a respected cast of actors associated with such uninspiring material.”
Pax.
Mark Thomas
Pope Francis allow bishops, priests and deacons to bless same sex unions. Certainly he allows us to go to movies like Conclave!
Opinions in regard to everything under the sun differ wildly. Therefore, it was a given that opinions in regard to Conclave would differ wildly.
I have read several overall positive reviews of Conclave. Said reviews were, in the main, from secular sources. Certain Catholic sources offered overall positive reviews of Conclave. But even overall positive reviews of Conclave noted certain red flags in regard to said movie.
I last attended a movie in, I believe, 1992 A.D. I have zero desire to return to a movie theater. But beyond that, negative reviews that I encountered, as well as red flags noted in overall positive reviews, convinced me that Conclave is not for me.
Conversely, there are folks who, without the slightest of qualms, will attend Conclave. So be it.
Pax.
Mark Thomas
From: The Catholic League: In regard to the movie Conclave:
https://www.catholicleague.org/new-catholic-film-conclave-to-debut/
"...the movie has garnered a 94 percent s core on Rotten Tomatoes.
"Entertainment Weekly adds that “much of the film interrogates the gap between the Catholic Church’s sins and the true meaning of faith….”
"...looking at the 2016 novel it is based on provides more insight.
"Like the movie, the novel revolves around the political intrigue of a papal election. Of course, the leading candidates have some sort of moral failing.
"Cardinal Joshua Adeyemi from Africa who holds traditional views had an affair with a nun and fathered a child ruling him out of contention.
"Cardinal Joseph Tremblay a smooth Vatican insider is involved in a scandal of selling Church offices and appointments to bolster his support.
"Liberal Cardinal Aldo Bellini who favors modernizing the Church is a suffering hero rejected by the College of Cardinals.
"Foiling Bellini is the ultra-conservative Cardinal Goffredo Tedesco, a boorish man.
"Ultimately, the conclave selects Cardinal Vincent Benítez...it turns out Benítez is intersex with what looks to be male reproductive organs but is female.
"The author, Robert Harris, claims he has no real religious tradition. However, he is a devout British liberal...Harris even defended (Roman) Polanski from his critics saying his crimes are a problem of culture and fashion.
"In the novel’s Acknowledgements, Harris cites a slew of dissident Catholic writers including John Cornwell, a British author known for the totally discredited book Hitler’s Pope.
It is equally instructive to consider what some of the people associated with the movie have said:
"Director Edward Berger — ”If the Catholic Church wants to survive and take a step into the future it needs to change quickly….”
"Leading actor Ralph Fiennes — ”When religious things become so codified, so doctrinal and extreme, then they become for me very frightening.”
"He then criticized Pope Benedict XVI, “I don’t think anyone who considers themselves an enlightened Catholic can like him.”
"Supporting actor Stanley Tucci played the anti-Catholic Boston lawyer Mitchell Garabedian in Spotlight, lauding his work. That tells us volumes about Tucci’s real agenda.
"...Conclave is more a piece of anti-Catholic propaganda than it is a work of art...namely it aims to paint the Catholic Church in the most negative light possible."
Pax.
Mark Thomas
I thank Father McDonald for having allowed me to offer numerous comments in regard to Conclave.
The following is from Movieguide, "a website and biweekly journal that evaluates motion pictures and other entertainment products from a Christian perspective on suitability for family consumption:"
Movieguide stated that "CONCLAVE is well acted. So, it has several highly dramatic moments. However, it has a decidedly politically correct and leftist surprise ending promoting multiple examples of unbiblical, immoral and heretical ideas."
"Intentional blasphemy, evil, gross immorality, and/or worldview problems. (To be avoided)."
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Catholic League stated that Conclave is "more a piece of anti-Catholic propaganda than it is a work of art...namely it aims to paint the Catholic Church in the most negative light possible."
Movieguide stated that Conclave..."may lull uninformed moviegoers who only have a superficial understanding of Christianity, religion and Roman Catholicism. " That is among my concerns with Conclave.
I do not ask that a movie in regard to Catholicism sugarcoat the following reality: As then-Cardinal Ratzinger noted in 2005 A.D., "filth" existed (as has always been the case), within the Church.
But as he also made clear, for decades, there has always been a great deal of goodness within the Church. Does Conclave offer that balanced view in regard to the Church?
Pope Francis has called for frank, honest, constructive dialogue within the Church. His Holiness has said that we need not fear the truth.
However, Conclave, even as noted in overall positive reviews of said movie, dwells upon much that is negative, according to the filmmakers, in regard to the Church.
Based upon the reviews that I have read, including overall thumbs-up reviews of said movie, Conclave does not offer a fair, balanced view of the Church.
As Movieguide noted, Conclave..."may lull uninformed moviegoers who only have a superficial understanding of Christianity, religion and Roman Catholicism."
Therefore, I worry that Conclave is, if you will, another misleading "Hilter's Pope."
Pax.
Mark Thomas
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