The 2024 Film Conference – Box Office Hot and Oscar Winner – tells the story of the Pope’s election, with no obvious favorites. For many, it is a glimpse into the sparse world of the Vatican and a highly secretive process of choosing leaders for the Roman Catholic Church.

Life comes after the novel when 134 Cardinals begin the process of electing Pope Francis’ successor on Wednesday, May 7. As the movie’s audience knows, the Pope Conference will take place entirely behind the closed doors of the Sistine Church, under its world-famous Michelangelo fresco.

Outside the Vatican range, no one will know the result until the plume of white smoke curled from the chimney, indicating that the Roman Catholic Church would have a new leader.

But, this movie tells us what is how to carry out the meeting and why do people find the process so fascinating?

Adapted from Robert Harris' best-selling novel, the seat shows the Cardinal isolated in the Vatican range during the election process.

They are not allowed to communicate with anyone outside the meeting - although given the practicality, they are not completely cut off.

"They all need to be fed and are not completely sealed from the world," said Stephen Blulivant, a professor of theology and religious sociology at St. Mary's University in Twickenham.

This self-imposed isolation is a tradition that dates back hundreds of years.

To some extent, it aims to prevent voters from being influenced by external factors, and while the idea of ​​the process that occurs later in the closed side seems to be inconsistent with the modern world’s “focus on transparency, visibility and censorship,” said Anna Rowlands, professor of Catholic social thought and practice at Durham University.

The film evokes an "incredible, introspective atmosphere" and a feeling of exiting the world, she said. “I tried hard to think of a stronger responsibility and feeling than being locked in a meeting.”

On screen, claustrophobia and intense deliberation, strategic obstacles and tactical actions abound. A cardinal sabotages the leader to improve his chances. Others with potential clients are unlikely to urge their supporters to change their votes.

This conflict of interest and competition ideology provides most of the film's drama. "It's essentially about a political plot that happened," film editor Nick Emerson told the BBC earlier this year.

While some Cardinals believe the most important part is following divine guidance, others are anxious about making quick decisions, said Tina Beattie, a professor of Catholic Studies at Roehampton University.

She added that given Pope Francis' health is already terrible, it is likely that there will be a lot of politics and a place to compete behind the scenes, even before the meeting. ”

“There will be all these quarrels happening and (the Cardinal) will not be fully focused.”

Although some of the most tense scenes in the film focus on the act of voting, in fact, most of the drama may take place at a conference in the days before the seat officially begins.

During this time, participants will “get to know each other, determine what priorities are, and learn how to work together as a body so that they can come up with a unified decision”, Professor Roland approached the Vatican’s two-year secondment.

In the film, an unknown cardinal appointed by the late pope is bounced into the competition.

In real life, this is impossible. Although any baptized Roman Catholic male who is theoretically qualified to be a pope, all cardinals who vote in the meeting need to be publicly appointed by the former pope.

That being said, the looming election is probably one of the most unpredictable elections ever. Over the past 12 years, Pope Francis has appointed about 80% of the cardinals who are eligible to vote. He consciously chose people from all over the world and had different political backgrounds.

Professor Rolands said many of Francis' appointments come from developing countries - "places and environments that are not usually Red Hat."

This adds a certain level of uncertainty to their priorities and final decisions.

The film shows the Cardinal as a mistake-prone human struggle for power.

Director Edward Berger told the BBC last year that while the conference was considered an "old spiritual ritual", he wanted to "bring participants into the modern era."

“We put them on this pedestal and when you look up close they will wear their phones, they will smoke, their problems, vices and secrets are the same as us.”

Professor Roland said the film provides a pinnacle behind the process, which contains all the elements of human nature and human life: "loss, ambition, fear, fear, temptation, courage".

She added: "It's a very, very human thing, a meeting...it's a divine purpose, but it's a very human thing."