How can a film about a fraught super-high stakes election help get you through the fraught supe-high stakes American election? My theory about uncertain, crucial outcomes is better to wait till the verdict is final and definite. If it’s good news, you’ll be relieved and overjoyed. If it’s bad news, at least you would have had a few extra hours, or days, to indulge in optimism. A case in point: a couple of years ago when I awaited a medical report that had the potential to be, at a minimum, life-changing, I didn’t look at it over the weekend. If it turned out to be good, great, and if on Monday it confirmed the worst, well, at least I had the weekend before the sky fell in.
On the night of November 8th, 2016, I went to bed certain, as everyone I knew seemed to be, that the morning would confirm Hilary Clinton as our next President. A disturbing dream woke me up in the middle of the night. My mother had died a few weeks earlier but in the dream I was hurrying to her sickbed, where I found her sitting up in bed and reassuring me: “It was just a cold.” I puzzled over the dream for a moment and then thought, since I was awake, I might as well turn on my cell phone and take a look at the election results. To my shock, Trump was winning. Now I wish I’d slept through till morning.
So this November 5th election night, I opted to go watch a film about another election where the global stakes are arguably at least as high: the election of a Pope in Rome. “Conclave” is a riveting story of intrigue and ambition, of Cardinal rivalries and cardinal sins, overlaid with gorgeous pomp and pageantry. Well worth the distraction from the news roller-coaster of doom-watching or irrational exuberance. Especially since this election promises to be a marathon, not a sprint, with final results taking days to certify, and then bracing for challenges and potential unrest. Be grateful for the calm before the storm.