In Theaters: A Tough Time To Be a Devout Catholic

[Pink Freud]

First "Conclave" has run for several weeks in theaters with strong reviews and Oscar suggestions for Ralph Fiennes and the eye-popping set design (you can't believe it's not actually St. Peter's Basilica). Not an overwhelmingly positive view of the Church, though certainly a fascinating, informative one, of the strum und drung power struggles behind the scenes at the Vatican often resembling the lead stories on cable "news" (ahem) networks in recent months.

Now we have "Small Things Like These", starring Cillian Murphy (Oscar winner for "Oppenheimer") as an Irish coal hauler who discovers more secrets hidden behind those sacred (uh huh) walls, opening in theaters to high praise from reviewers. With reminders of the brilliant Judi Dench/Steve Coogan drama "Philomena", let's leave it to Joni Mitchell's "The Magdalene Laundries" to provide the fulcrum for the story behind "Small Things Like These":

"I was an unmarried girl
I'd just turned twenty-seven
When they sent me to the sisters
For the way men looked at me

Branded as a jezebel
I knew I was not bound for Heaven
I'd be cast in shame
Into the Magdalene laundries

Most girls come here pregnant
Some by their own fathers
Bridget got that belly
By her parish priest

We're trying to get things white as snow
All of us woe-begotten-daughters
In the steaming stains
Of the Magdalene laundries

Prostitutes and destitutes
And temptresses like me
Fallen women
Sentenced into dreamless drudgery

Why do they call this heartless place
Our Lady of Charity?
Oh charity!........"

Do they know it's (almost) Christmas? "It's Christmas time, and there's no need to be afraid. At Christmas time, we let in light and banish shade."

[Pink Freud]

Critics' reviews for "Small Things Like These": https://www.mrqe.com/movie_reviews/smal ... 100147349/

Thanks to Gelatinous Endive for tipping me off years ago to critic Frank Swietek (One Guy's Opinion), who always has cogent, well-written reviews. He gives "Small Things Like These" a B+.

[MikoTython]

It sort of depends on the sort of Catholic. Current controversies and scandals exist. There isn’t anything in Conclave that is far off the current reality mark, other than the thought-provoking ‘twist’. If you want real entertainment, check out those 11th century Popes.

[George Zipp]

It sort of depends on the sort of Catholic. Current controversies and scandals exist. There isn’t anything in Conclave that is far off the current reality mark, other than the thought-provoking ‘twist’. If you want real entertainment, check out those 11th century Popes.

I would disagree about the thought provoking comment in regard to the plot twist. And if anyone is actually reading this and wants to avoid even semi spoilers then stop reading. You’ve been warned.

What you call thought provoking I call annoying and stupid. Annoying because the first 1:50 of the film was rock solid. Gave me a nice education about a process I know nothing about. Even with the story I imagine the process of the conclave was mainly realistic. And then the twist and also the incredibly abrupt fade to black roll credits ending. Did not like.

And stupid because come on. You are telling me a papal candidate or cardinal, even this mysterious guy, is gonna get thru that vetting process (here come the spoilers everyone, seriously stop if you haven’t seen the movie and plan on it) without someone figuring out that the clinic in Geneva was an ovary removal center? No way. I mean the level of gossiping and tattling in the movie was off the charts. Not buying it.

[MikoTython]

It sort of depends on the sort of Catholic. Current controversies and scandals exist. There isn’t anything in Conclave that is far off the current reality mark, other than the thought-provoking ‘twist’. If you want real entertainment, check out those 11th century Popes.

I would disagree about the thought provoking comment in regard to the plot twist. And if anyone is actually reading this and wants to avoid even semi spoilers then stop reading. You’ve been warned.

What you call thought provoking I call annoying and stupid. Annoying because the first 1:50 of the film was rock solid. Gave me a nice education about a process I know nothing about. Even with the story I imagine the process of the conclave was mainly realistic. And then the twist and also the incredibly abrupt fade to black roll credits ending. Did not like.

And stupid because come on. You are telling me a papal candidate or cardinal, even this mysterious guy, is gonna get thru that vetting process (here come the spoilers everyone, seriously stop if you haven’t seen the movie and plan on it) without someone figuring out that the clinic in Geneva was an ovary removal center? No way. I mean the level of gossiping and tattling in the movie was off the charts. Not buying it.

What sex is God ? Does he/she/it have a sex ? Does calling the entities father & son mark them, or is that a vestige of the patriarchal Jewish tradition which the ancient Church inherited & codified ? Can God do miracles ? Might an intersex person represent more the holistic concept embodied by a human entire than one 'limited' to one or another of the binary genders ?

Those sorts of questions, not the 'realism' of the situation, are what make the devise thought provoking - in a philosophical, metaphysical & even theologically challenging way. That's how I, upon reflection, interpret the drama. Being provoking is part of being thought provoking.

[Dicktar2023]

I watched Conclave last night, and I'm tickled at how brazenly pointless it was. Given its somber tone and apparent reverence for the Church, I thought for sure there was going to be some commentary on, say, the moral corruption of good men, or the role of the Church in modern life, etc.

But no. It's just a potboiler constructed out of a daisy chain of arbitrary plot revelations. Cardinal A is getting votes, but he's taken down by Scandal #1, which paves the way for Cardinal #2...but wait, here comes Scandal #2...

Some movies these days are being written with the help of AI, but it seems like these writers used the old-fashioned method: a dart board.

[MikoTython]

I watched Conclave last night, and I'm tickled at how brazenly pointless it was. Given its somber tone and apparent reverence for the Church, I thought for sure there was going to be some commentary on, say, the moral corruption of good men, or the role of the Church in modern life, etc.

But no. It's just a potboiler constructed out of a daisy chain of arbitrary plot revelations. Cardinal A is getting votes, but he's taken down by Scandal #1, which paves the way for Cardinal #2...but wait, here comes Scandal #2...

Some movies these days are being written with the help of AI, but it seems like these writers used the old-fashioned method: a dart board.

Wow, a snide dismissal. Quelle surprise

I expect the elevation of Francis had a lot of these pot-boiler elements - he was, after all, complicit (or so perceived) in knuckling under to the Argentine Junta, his predecessor a likely lad in the Hitler Youth asleep at the wheel regarding clerical abuse, leading to an abdication that hadn't happened in centuries. We won't delve into JP I's (Mafia/Vatican Bank) death 10 minutes after he was elevated. Thisahere film was, take it or leave it, an entertainment dancing upon the process, some of its IRL fault-lines, which did actually pose a non-trivial thought experiment in the end. Things happened. First one, then another. It was funny like that.

It landed, at least for me - more so because my initial visceral reaction to the ending was so negative, where upon reflection struck as profound, given the sexist church hierarchy of the ages, which I and many have been trained to internalize. After all, this is supposed to be a Church in which miracles occur, Saints are created. This could be God shoving a problem down the throat of the College of Cardinals. Otherwise, it is just a documentary or pot-boiler.

Or, if you like, just a libral agenda-mongering hit piece on a lovely generally fault-free Church. Traditionalists will almost certainly see it that way, since power generally loathes a challenge, attempts to reform. Nothing new there.

Anyway, that's my final 2 cents on this film- coming out of the theater, I never would have expected I'd come to appreciate this film as I have. It kind of worked on me. ymmv, probably does...