I wanted to like Conclave. It won the Best Adapted Screenplay award at the Oscars. It is a beautifully composed film. The use of color and shadow, chiaroscuro, resemble a renaissance painting. At times, it delivers insightful dialogue, and its main monologue captures the exhaustion of our era and the concomitant longing for humility. The film is at its best when it critiques ambition, certainty, and egotism. However, Conclave is ultimately a parody of Christianity and uses it as a mask to import its anti-Christian ideology. In fact, Conclave takes ideology to be the antidote to ambition – erroneously. And for this reason, Conclave amounts to sophisticated, beautiful, well-acted propaganda.

Screenwriter and film fanatic, Jordan Criss, reviews this year’s Academy Award nominees and winners, starting with The Father. The Father was nominated for: Best Picture, Best Actor*, Best Supporting Actress, Best Adapted Screenplay*, Best Film Editing, & Best Production Design.