I read a
Guardian review, and safe to say, if one is Catholic, one has nothing much to fear from this film.
One element struck a chord:
"If you think (the plot of Robert Harris' book) sounds surprisingly similar to the plots of several other of Harris’s novels then you’d be right. Having started out as a political journalist, he has rarely wavered from his specialist knowledge in his subsequent career as a writer of fiction: the acquiring of, the exercising of and the inevitable corrupting effects of power. In
The Ghost (2007) he investigated the workings of power in contemporary British politics. In
Imperium (2006),
Lustrum (2009) and
Dictator (2015) he did the same with ancient Rome. Now he does it with the Vatican. In a few years’ time he will surely turn his attention to the Olympics or Fifa."
So we have a basic plot model clothed in a cardinal's red robes.
Two things:
The first is, as a reader of James Clavell's
Shogun, one has to admit it's 'unputdownable' (as the review says of Harris'
Conclave). However, for anyone acquainted with the era of Japan in which
Shogun is set (1600), its depiction of the Japanese characters are a series of stereotypes that totter between the trite and the borderline offensive. The characters in Conclave tick the boxes of a stereotypical inter-Catholic liberal v conservative context ... not to say such is not the case, however ... it's just that it's never quite so simply cut and dried.
(Eg: Pope Francis is a liberal in some ways, very conservative in others.)
(The recent tv adaptation is brilliant, but that was helmed by someone who is actually Japanese.)
Second thing:
I read a review of
The Da Vinci Code which said much the same thing as the reviewer – Dan Brown writes formulaic novels (although nowhere near as well as Harris) and hit gold with
DVC which although sold very, very well, is critically regarded as being very, very bad. Famously Stephen Fry, who is an outspoken critic of religion in general and Christianity in particular, was caustic in his dismissal.
(And the
DVC v
Holy Blood & Holy Grail spat is a matter of clever marketing, as both books are published by Random House and the very public row boosted sales all round.)
And DVC spawned a whole subculture based on total fantasy ...
+++
There's nothing wrong with any of this, of course, until the public discourse begins to reflect not the
actuality of what's being discussed, but a
fiction to some degree removed.
+++
The enduring attraction of the Catholic Church is, I think, that it plays into the Conspiracy Theory Playbook – and tragically, not without reason.
... the one time you were as clear as daylight, and I missed it!
