OPINION: The sin of existence

Humanity’s gift to our conscious is the knowledge of how our actions can be interpreted as good or evil. It’s what allows us to be sympathetic, cooperative and most of all recognizant of trespasses.

As someone who grew up Christian, what I found myself continuously drawn to, and sometimes disillusioned by, is the idea of forgiveness. I don’t believe in the idea one must be a child of God in order to deserve forgiveness.

As I’ve seen attachment to religion force hatred toward certain groups of people, I find the idea of forgiveness as dictated by scripture to be an often contradicting swirl of xenophobic fear. I only see others as human, and therefore deserving of forgiveness.

So what drew me to “Conclave” this week was how it analyzes the idea of oneself as deserving of forgiveness. Following the process of the Catholic Church electing their next pope, the dean, Cardinal Lawrence, has to mediate an election where everyone seems to have a guilty conscience.

“Conclave,” unlike what I described last week, does not follow a historical event. I’m sorry for judging a book by its cover. In my defense, the Catholic Church and its routine is so steeped in tradition, the trailer seemed to me like it could take place in any time period. This could also be seen as an asset for “Conclave,” as its removal from time allows for its plotting mystery to feel universal or humanistic.

However, the papal election in “Conclave” feels strictly tied to today, with distinctions between conservative and liberal candidates for pope, fighting for or working to dismantle progress. The ridiculousness of the politics in the Vatican City are similar to party divisions in America. One character, in a moment when the film is most self-aware, points how the conclave is turning into an American election.

The previous pope was praised for his progressive ideas, but criticized by the other end. One candidate, Cardinal Tedesco, threatens to dismantle decades of liberal progress.

Throughout it all is an examination of each candidate for pope, their reasoning for the position and the idea in which they could not be worthy of becoming the most holy man on earth. Lawrence, played spectacularly reserved by Ralph Fiennes, is simultaneously realizing his ability to judge the candidates for their sins while also analyzing whether he deserves to even have the power himself.

The mystery behind each candidate isn’t exactly twisty, however. Throughout the majority of its runtime, “Conclave” sets up each character to eventually fall. It’s pretty obvious to see the end. That is, up until the final few moments, which charge an already tense situation with a final defibrillating jolt.

What’s so electric about the final closing minutes of “Conclave” isn’t just a win for representation in film, but a reexamination of how anxieties around faith and sin have twisted the ability to exist incorruptibly.

I must spoil this movie, but if anything I have said interests you, find time to see it. It’s sure to be one of the films nominated for Best Picture, and I will make an early claim for the movie’s status as one of the best of the year. It’s in my top 10 of the year currently.

The ending of “Conclave” revolves around one man, Cardinal Benitez, whose identity as a cardinal was kept secret by the pope in pectore, for fear of public identification causing danger to him as a Catholic archbishop in Kabul.

Throughout the movie, Benitez is the outsider, the one no one knew about and the one who doesn’t quite fit in with the mold of a candidate for pope. He’s a missionary who has worked in Baghdad and the Congo, whose seen the common man at his best and worst.

When the conclave seems most divided, it’s his words which round up the cardinals to find him as a leader for a new age of the church, a man who has seen evil and still embraced forgiveness.

There’s one final problem, and it’s Benitez himself. Right before he’s presented to the public, he confides in Lawrence, telling him his story. He was born and assumed male at birth, but after a medical examination late in his life, it was found he had a uterus and ovaries.

This final reveal, after a mountain of conspiracy and deception, is perhaps the one moment where the movie can say no man is free from sin. At least, if you could describe this moment as sin.

It’s the final moment of reflection for Lawrence too, who has spent the movie in hypercritical assessment of his peers and himself, who has been told throughout the movie how no one can claim to be innocent.

Benitez, who reveals himself as intersex, says simply “I am as God made me.” It’s a powerful moment which challenges the ideas of the Catholic Church, the way it’s viewed identity and asks for a final moment of forgiveness.

Whether or not this moment can be interpreted as ridiculous, camp, out-of-nowhere, over-the-top or any other directionally related terms of outrageousness, it’s still presented tenderly, no ounce of hatred to be seen. If Benitez has sinned, then it is only in our personal views and prejudices. If no man is free of sin, then forgiveness is the only way forward.