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Welcome to the “Georgia Wasp…”
This blog is modeled on the Carolina Israelite. That was an old-time newspaper – more like a personal newsletter – written and published by Harry Golden. Back in the 1950s, people called Harry a “voice of sanity amid the braying of jackals.” (For his work on the Israelite.)
That’s now my goal as well. To be a “voice of sanity amid the braying of jackals.”
For more on the blog-name connection, see the notes below.
In the meantime:
It’s finally time for me to do a movie review. You know, of a recent film?
I last did one in April 2023, but that was on a movie released in 1941: About Swamp Water, the “film noir” directed by Jean Renoir starring Walter Brennan and Dana Andrews. That film – with its ghoulish image of a water moccasin biting Brennan on the cheek – really creeped me out. (Back in the early 1960s when I was about 10.) But it also fascinated me so much that I decided that some day I would paddle across the Okefenokee Swamp myself.
Which I finally did in February 2023, after three separate tries spanning the eight years from 2015. And there’s a connection: In reviewing “Swamp Water” I discussed the huge difference between the Okefenokee as it really was and how “deadly” it was portrayed by Hollywood. (After paddling serenely through it myself.) The result? In March 2023 I posted Okefenokee – “Haven of Serenity” or Deadly Swamp? My conclusion? Definitely a haven of serenity.
In a similar way, near the end of the just-released Conclave – watching the dramatic plot’s denouement – I found myself blurting out, “Geez, that [bleeping] Hollywood!”
But other than that I liked it.
Wikipedia called Conclave a thriller directed by Edward Berger and starring Ralph Fiennes, Stanley Tucci, John Lithgow, Sergio Castellitto, and Isabella Rossellini. “In the film, Cardinal Thomas Lawrence (Fiennes) organizes a papal conclave to elect the next pope, and finds himself investigating secrets and scandals about each candidate.” There’s more below, but first some background on my saying this blog would focus mostly on film reviews:
Those reviews – when they happen – are a throwback to my time at the University of South Florida, in 1976. I reviewed movies for the student newspaper, The Oracle. (Before it got all famous and well-known.) I liked films enough to make that my minor.
(From THAT “WASP” NAME, above.) In those college days I had a simple formula for reviews, based on the idea that no movie was all bad or all good. If I liked the movie, two-thirds of the review would be positive. (Then came a downside.) If I didn’t, the review would be two-thirds negative, but still – I figured – that much work had to offer some redeeming social value.
Since my poor-student college days I’ve added an another factor, the price of admission. (In this case, at the Tara Theatre near Woodland Hills in Atlanta.) The price of admission – that Thursday, October 31 – was $17.42 for the ticket, and “even at that high price (‘gasp!’) the film was worth seeing.” (On the plus side, I got a tall Miller Lite for $6.)
Which is really saying something. That’s the most I’ve paid to see a movie, ever, and even at $17.42 a ticket Conclave was worth the price of admission. But here I run into a problem. I saw the movie on Halloween night, October 31, and intended to review it while the film was still fresh in my mind. Then came the election, five days later, which threw me for a loop.
Which brings up one dramatic highlight, when a bomb exploded just outside the building where the conclave was meeting. Immediately Cardinal Tedesco, an “Italian traditionalist,” railed against the “foreigners” and “barbarians” who would do such a thing. (And boy did that sound familiar.) That is, “Tedesco attempts to use the attack to his political advantage by blaming Islamists and calling for the Church to fight a war against Islam.”
But then came the surprise dark-horse candidate, Cardinal Benitez, who had been working in Afghanistan. He responded calmly and reasonably, saying that “violence should not be met with violence,” and that he has seen the true cost of war during his time in the Congo, Baghdad, and Kabul. (You might even say his response smacked of true Christian love.) The cardinals end up moved so much that they elect Benitez as pope on the sixth ballot.
That and the surprise twist near the end struck me as possibly a Hollywood political plea for a similar calm, reasoned and loving outcome of the then-upcoming election, “five days hence.” Needless to say, Benitez’s message did not turn out to be prescient. (Showing knowledge of an event before it happens.) As for the surprise twist, that’s what led me to blurt out, “Geez, that [bleeping] Hollywood!” (So be prepared for that surprise.)
But enough about my reaction, tainted as it was by the passage of time and the intervening election results. (Where I’d say the “Tedescos” of America won.) But what have others said? The Wikipedia article includes a smorgasbord of reactions, so I’ll give you some samples. (Which by the way, I couldn’t do when I did reviews for the USF Oracle. There were no such sources of collateral information. You know, “a century ago?”) The Rotten Tomatoes website included the comment that “Conclave is a godsend for audiences who crave intelligent entertainment.”
Perhaps not surprisingly, one Catholic bishop said the movie “checks practically every woke box, I’m sure it will win a boatload of awards, but my advice is to run away from it as fast as you can.” In turn, an evangelical reviewer said that “though the film subtly advances progressive convictions, it gives cardinals of all ideological persuasions equal opportunity to fall short.”
As for me, I’d say it was – and still is – worth the price of admission. (“$17? Gasp!” I did find out later I could have gotten a $13 senior discount.) Either way, for me that’s high praise indeed.
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The upper and lower images are both courtesy of Conclave Movie … Image Results. BTW, Rossellini is the daughter of Swedish actress Ingrid Bergman and Italian director Roberto Rossellini,
Re: Paddling across the Okefenokee. See the March 15 2023 post I paddled across the Okefenokee – finally! (And links therein.) Later that month I posted The Okefenokee – “Haven of Serenity” or Deadly Swamp? (My conclusion? The former.)
Re: Tara Theatre. The art house movie theater, located at 2345 Cheshire Bridge Road NE, that “specializes in the showing of independent films, the only theater in Atlanta to do so exclusively.” Wikipedia. See also Tara Theatre Movie Showtimes & Tickets | Atlanta | Fandango: “$17.42 for the Thursday night 8:15 show,” but only $13.88 for “Child/Senior/Military.” Being a Senior Citizen myself – at 73 – “I won’t make that mistake again.”
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Re: The Israelite. Harry Golden grew up in the Jewish ghetto of New York City, but eventually moved to Charlotte, North Carolina. Thus the “Carolina Israelite.” I on the other hand am a “classic 73-year-old “WASP” – White Anglo-Saxon Protestant – and live in north Georgia. Thus the “Georgia Wasp.”
Anyway, in North Carolina Harry wrote and published the “israelite” from the 1940s through the 1960s. He was a “cigar-smoking, bourbon-loving raconteur.” (He told good stories.) That also means if he was around today, the “Israelite would be done as a blog.” But what made Harry special was his positive outlook on life. As he got older but didn’t turn sour, like many do today. He still got a kick out of life. For more on the blog-name connection, see “Wasp” and/or The blog.
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Other random notes I found, not included in the main text, in no particular order:
Conclave Explained: How A New Pope Is Chosen – Screen Rant, with a section, “How a new pope is chosen in real life,”
a highly secretive process held behind closed doors at the Sistine Chapel, which is scanned for microphones and cameras before the procedure begins.
While being sequestered, cardinals aren’t allowed to speak about the ongoing election process with anyone outside, or else they’d be excommunicated.
A cardinal is required to receive a majority of two-thirds of all votes to become the new pope. If a new pope is selected, white smoke will come from the Vatican’s rooftop, revealing to the world that a decision has been made. However, if a decision isn’t made, ballots will be burnt with an additional chemical that makes the smoke black. In this case, the conclave resumes, with two to four more votes held per day. If, on the fifth day, a decision hasn’t been made, the cardinals will pause for prayer and discussion before continuing.
“Technically, Any Baptized Catholic Male Can Be Elected Pope”
How Accurate Conclave’s Pope Selection Process Is
Conclave Misses Some Details But Nails The Important Elements
The usage of O’Malley for outside information heightens the drama in Conclave and works to the film’s benefit, but the rules Lawrence breaks stretch the bounds of fiction. Isabella Rossellini’s role as Sister Agnes likely has more autonomy than she would in real life, supporting the film’s feminist themes. Lawrence is shown voting for himself toward the end of Conclave, and it’s implied that other cardinals have been doing the same throughout the film, which would technically not be allowed. The overall process is handled by the film with sophistication, though some details are obscured for cinematic drama.
Conclave Ending: The Chosen Pope’s Shocking Twist Explained:
This movie is about the oldest patriarchal institution in the world, representing many other patriarchal institutions in the world. And at the end of the movie, there’s a crack in that institution, a crack of perhaps femininity, ya? It’s a crack that a light can shine through, a guiding light for the future, perhaps. And the future is a world where maybe both can exist?
Once that conclave is over, the shutters open, and [Lawrence] opens the window, and lets the air and the sun and life back in. And he hears that feminine laughter of those three nuns. In a way, it’s the future and it evokes a smile on him. It’s the promise of a more egalitarian tomorrow with a Pope who might offer some understanding for all people, no matter their gender or sex.
Conclave Ending Explained: What The New Pope’s Secret Means:
Benitez’s Conclave twist is meant to surprise, especially since the cardinal would now be the first pope to not have been born a male. Benitez is an intersex person who believed he was male well into adulthood. His gender was never questioned, and he was sent to seminary very early on in life. However, it wasn’t until he was injured in a car bomb while in Afghanistan that a doctor’s examination revealed the truth — Benitez had a uterus. Believing this disqualified him from his position, he offered to resign, but the pope instead arranged for Benitez to have a hysterectomy.
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