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SPOILER ALERT, MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD

“Angels and Demons” is the second film in the so-called Robert Langdon franchise, based on novels by Dan Brown. It´s the sequel to the notorious flick “The Da Vinci Code”. Somewhat confusingly, the original novels were published in exactly the opposite order, with “The Da Vinci Code” being the sequel to “Angels and Demons”. I never read the novel “Angels and Demons”, but judging by Wikipedia´s summary, it´s more extreme than the film adaptation. But sure, the film is pretty extreme and unrealistic too! That being said, it´s the best of the three Robert Langdon films. Tom Hanks, Ewan McGregor and Swedish actor Stellan Skarsgård are some of the highlights.

As per usual, “symbologist” Robert Langdon and a female sidekick get embroiled in a crime investigation with religious undertones, and run around various old churches frantically searching for clues in obscure artwork. This time, the entire plot is set in Rome during a papal conclave. The four most likely candidates for the papacy are kidnapped by the Illuminati, who intend to murder them under ritualistic forms at symbolically potent places around the eternal city. The assassin is not a religious or anti-religious zealot, however, but a freelancer who reminds me of Joubert in “Three Days of the Condor”. The Illuminati have also gotten their hands on an anti-matter bomb they intend to detonate inside the Vatican. Since enormous crowds have gathered at St Peter´s Square, thousands of people are at risk of being killed in the blast.

The somewhat unexpected plot twist is that the Illuminati don´t exist, the entire terrorist plot really being planned by the Camerlengo (the pope´s secretary) to make himself pope after murdering his superior. In other words, a classical false flag. The Camerlengo is angry at the pope´s attempts to reconcile faith and science, the pontiff even expressing support for CERN´s search for the “God Particle”. When exposed, the Camerlengo (apparently a Catholic fanatic from Northern Ireland!) burns himself to death as a pleasing sacrifice in the eyes of the Lord. In the novel, the story is even more gruesome, with the Camerlengo being the pope´s illegitimate child with a nun through artificial insemination. Overcome by shame, the unfortunate secretary (who is Italian in the novel) self-immolates.

Well, I didn´t say the plot was logical.

Although released in 2009, one can certainly draw parallels between “Angels and Demons” and the strange shenanigans four years later surrounding Benedict XVI´s resignation and his replacement by Francis I. The riotous crowds in the Piazza San Pietro could be seen as a metaphor for the conflicts between liberals and conservatives within the Church. Real conspiracies – or conspiracy theories – have been mined for inspiration. The Vatican archives, the Vatican bank and the murder of a progressive pope (John Paul I, hint hint) all play a role. Note also the weird coincidence that the new pope in the film calls himself Luke, this being a name no pope has used before. In real life, Francis also adopted a name no supreme pontiff has used before…

So while “Angels and Demons” does come across as Hollywood´s crazy look at a papal election in Old Europe, it does make you wonder about a thing or two.