Conclave by Richard Harris, author of Fatherland – one of the 1,000 Novels Everyone Must Read, and a top 200 favorite of mine, there is a note on the blog http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/02/unique-in-world.html?q=unique+in+the+world - 8 out of 10

 

Conclave by Richard Harris, author of Fatherland – one of the 1,000 Novels Everyone Must Read, and a top 200 favorite of mine, there is a note on the blog http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/02/unique-in-world.html?q=unique+in+the+world

 

8 out of 10

 

Conclave was highly recommended, first of all, Fatherland is one of the best Science Fiction works I know, albeit I am not a fan of the genre, the future where the Nazis would have won the war is more than distressing, but on the one hand, it could have happened, and on the other…it really did for some of us

 

I mean, we came under the rule of the soviets and there is no difference, except of course that the Nazis mass kill in the name of far-right nonsense, while the communists do it for the love of the masses, allegedly, they are amorous of the tens of millions they execute, keep in famine, sent to the gulags to die…

Fatherland https://realini.blogspot.com/2020/12/fatherland-by-robert-harris-10-out-of-10.html exposes the monsters, it has a love story, mystery, a vision, and if you think about it, the gift of prophecy, as I said, for those who lived in the Ceausescu and similar regimes, it was not much to cherish in being oppressed by the far left

 

Conclave has a story that we have seen before, the déjà vu refers to two movies in particular, Habemus Papam, directed by fabulous Nanni Moretti, and The Two Popes, with Anthony Hopkins and Jonathan Price as the two leaders of the Catholic Church, the former is the Cardinal Ratzinger, as he had been before getting to the pontiff’s chair, and the latter would be Pope Francis, one is retired and has some fancy name…

Habemus Papam https://realini.blogspot.com/2023/09/habemus-papam-by-nanni-moretti-8-out-of.html has many similarities with Conclave – by the way, I am writing about the film here, it may be late in the game to ‘disclose this’, so mea culpa, the idea is that I do not think people read much, if at all, and if they do, they stop after the first couple of lines

 

The two motion pictures are so close, I was wondering what novelty is there in Conclave – and I have had time to ponder this, because somehow, it is the second ‘review’ of this subject, the take I wrote some four days ago vanished, the damn computer did not keep it, or else, foolish, forgetful me left it unsaved, thinking it would be by default

The Nanni Morett movie has the pope elected, and then we get the ‘action’, which is the head of the Catholic Church disappears, he wonders off into the Eternal city, outside the gates of the Vatican, and they have to wait to see if he comes back, he went mad, does not want to do this, maybe they need a new election…

 

In Conclave we have agitation as well, it is just that the causes are different – there is a battle between the conservatives and the ‘liberals’, something we could get in The Two Popes https://realini.blogspot.com/2020/01/the-two-popes-written-by-anthony.html and in reality, this film is based on facts

Ratzinger aka Pope Benedict was of the old school, rather retrograde – if we can say that about one of them, they have 2000 years of history, and tradition is the key word, they do not have revolutionaries in the Holy city – and Pope Francis is keen on changes, progress of a kind, spoke compassionately about homosexuals…

 

And there was backlash, in the motion picture, Cardinal Tedesco is the representative of the reactionaries, they are not just conservatives, his speech will veer towards nationalism, xenophobia, and violence, we are at war with Islam, look at what they are doing, we have mosques here, and no churches there

He is clearly obnoxious and vile, in spite of some of the true facts he mentions – you could not have churches in some of those fundamentalist places, they burned the Christmas tree in Syria, a few weeks ago – and he is opposed by Cardinal Tremblay, this is the one still in race, after some rounds, at least it appears to be so

 

There was a black Cardinal, Adeyemi, who was popular at the first voting sessions – they make the mistake to say he would be the first black pope, but they have had a few in the past centuries, not lately – before a nun comes into the dining room and there is a scene, we find that this African cardinal has a son with that woman

The despicable aspect here is that this fellow had hidden the fact – I think I have read in The Economist that this happening quite often, in parts of the world further away from Rome, where the traditions are different – abandoned his family somehow, wants more than the already prominent position he has, but there is more:

 

Cardinal Tremblay has schemed, used the information he had obtained to bring that nun to Rome, to the Conclave, so that the incident, little scandal takes place, and his rival is excluded from the race, it is a story of power, how men covet it, and notwithstanding the teachings of the Bible that should guide them –

They are thirsty and engage in lying – the narrative has somewhat disappointed me – in fact, I was more upset with the ‘quality’, just after seeing it, now, when some days have passed, I am mellow, indifferent – what was wrong in my mind is especially the ending, spoiler alert, the cardinal from Afghanistan was an unfortunate choice

To me, this is preposterous, I will refer to William Goldman https://realini.blogspot.com/2017/02/adventures-in-screen-trade-by-william.html and say that the turn of events lacks veridicity, I mean, come on, Afghanistan? And he is the ‘the solution’ we find out at the end; you want me to buy this?

 

Now for my standard closing of the note with a question, and invitation – maybe you have a good idea on how we could make more than a million dollars with this http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/02/unique-in-world.html?q=unique+in+the+world  – as it is, this is a unique technique, which we could promote, sell, open the Oscars show with or something and then make lots of money together, if you have the how, I have the product, I just do not know how to get the befits from it, other than the exercise per se

 

 There is also the small matter of working for AT&T – this huge company asked me to be its Representative for Romania and Bulgaria, on the Calling Card side, which meant sailing into the Black Sea wo meet the US Navy ships, travelling to Sofia, a lot of activity, using my mother’s two bedrooms flat as office and warehouse, all for the grand total of $250, raised after a lot of persuasion to the staggering $400…with retirement ahead, there are no benefits, nothing…it is a longer story, but if you can help get the mastodont to pay some dues, or have an idea how it can happen, let me know

 

As for my role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/realini-in-newsweek-participant-in.html

 

Some favorite quotes from To The Hermitage and other works

 

‘Fiction is infinitely preferable to real life...As long as you avoid the books of Kafka or Beckett, the everlasting plot of fiction has fewer futile experiences than the careless plot of reality...Fiction's people are fuller, deeper, cleverer, more moving than those in real life…Its actions are more intricate, illuminating, noble, profound…There are many more dramas, climaxes, romantic fulfillment, twists, turns, gratified resolutions…Unlike reality, all of this you can experience without leaving the house or even getting out of bed…What's more, books are a form of intelligent human greatness, as stories are a higher order of sense…As random life is to destiny, so stories are to great authors, who provided us with some of the highest pleasures and the most wonderful mystifications we can find…Few stories are greater than Anna Karenina, that wise epic by an often foolish author…’