Poirot to the rescue.
Well, not quite. This time around, David Suchet, now in the guise of an enlightened Vatican cardinal, tries but fails to solve the suspicious death of a newly elected pope, John Paul I (Richard O’Callaghan). In Roger Crane’s The Last Confession, Suchet plays a man of the cloth, Giovanni Benelli, who feels guilty for having failed to stand up for the liberal John Paul I when he was under attack by reactionaries in the Vatican.
Based on true events, the internecine struggles in 1978 when the hierarchy of the Catholic Church fought a bitter political war, The Last Confession proves to be not only a startling expose but a drama of surprising power. It’s also remarkable that this is Crane’s first and only play (he’s a lawyer by trade).
In 1963, Pope John XXIII died suddenly, after having launched a reform movement, the Second Vatican Council. A weak pope, Paul VI, took over and failed for fifteen years to implement the needed reforms. Even worse, he allowed a couple of criminals – Michele Sindona and Roberto Calvi – to take control of the Vatican’s finances.
The Last Confession opens right after Paul’s death, when Pope John Paul I took office and tried for 33 days to clean house. Opposing him were three Vatican higher-ups (played by Stuart Milligan, John O’May and Kevin Colson), who pulled every dirty trick in the book to maintain their stranglehold on the Vatican’s administrative body, the Roman Curia. Cardinal Benelli (Suchet) saw clearly what was happening, but because of his own ambitions to become pope, was too compromised to go to war on John Paul I’s behalf. As a result, John Paul’s enemies were able to not only poison him but prevent an autopsy from being performed. It was one more chapter in the long history of Catholic church crime.
Suchet is a commanding presence as Giovanni Benelli, a man whose courage did not match his depth of conscience. O’Callaghan also deserves high praise for his portrayal of the tentative, meek-looking but morally brave pope who had such a short, tragic time in office.
The Last Confession also has a strong supporting cast (20 in all) and benefits greatly from William Dudley’s towering set and Peter Mumford’s shadowy lighting.
