![]() The Da Vinci Code
Submitted Sunday, May 21, 2006 - 8:40:30 AM by Klaitu
I got to see this film as a sneak preview last Thursday, before it officially "came out".. Much to the consternation of many people who think the book is the spawn of the devil. If you're into this kind of thing, you better look away, because I'm going to spoil the thing in this review, so come on back after you see the film and see what's up.
The Da Vinci Code is a mystery action thriller starring Tom Hanks. He's a professor of "religious symbology" for Harvard University, and also happens to have an idetic memory. He's in france to sign some books, and see some other professor that works at the Louvre.
Unfortunately, that other professor gets murdered inside the louvre, and considering he wrote "find Robert Langdon" in his own blood, they're kinda pinning him for the murder. Luckily, the dead professor's granddaughter happens to be a French cryptologist working for the police, so she is able to rescue Langdon.
Together they piece together the clues left by the dead professor.. most directly he... sort of wrote on priceless artwork with his own blood. The clues lead them throughout France in an attempt to find the holy grail.
So, with the addition of the Holy Grail here, this is where people get a little uppity about this Da Vinci Code business. You see, the movie contends that the Holy Grail is actually not the cup used at the Last Supper, but actually Mary Magdeline. The idea here is that Jesus and Mary Magdeline were married, and she was preggers at the time of the crucifixion. The basic idea here is that Jesus was an amazing philosopher, but not actually divine in any way. Hence the controversy.
Ian McKellen has a pretty interesting explaination of this entire plot in the movie. He points out that one of the Disciples in DaVinci's "Last Supper" looks like a girl, and also that there is no cup on the table. He also identifies the gap between "suspected Mary" and Jesus is the symbol for "female" in ancient pagan religions. There are other points of interest.. them being dressed alike, and they look like they're cuddling when you transpose the image. Ian McKellen also throws down some Catholic history, and how the Catholic church knew of all this business, but chose to keep it covered up in order to maintain power.
Anyways, after Ian McKellen reveals all this stuff, the mystery is pretty much over, and the "run away from the bad guys" sequences pick up. As it turns out, the French cryptologist is the only remaining descendant of the Jesus bloodline, the Holy Grail is the sarcophagus that contains Mary Magdeline's remains, and it's buried under the Louvre. That's pretty much it.
So, let's nail down this controversy part of things:
1. The Catholic Church has distorted history to increase its power.
It's really easy to believe that the Catholic Church would be in on a coverup this large, because it has a pretty bad track record with this sort of thing.. what with the sale of Indulgences and the crusades and that kind of thing. Are they actually going around killing people like in the movie? Probably not.
2. Leonardo da Vinci was the head of a secret society tasked with protecting the holy grail.
I don't really understand this kind of idea, though it takes place in many movies. If you are charged with keeping a secret, then why would you put clues all over the place that could lead people to that secret?
3. Jesus was married and had a bloodline.
This is the kicker that everyone is all up on. It's kind of stupid to go and debunk a fictional work, but in this case, I'll go ahead for those who just don't get it. It's fiction. As in, it's made up.
Ian McKellen provides his evidence in an exposition scene in the movie, where he primarily points out things about da Vinci's "The Last Supper". He's right when he says there's no chalice in the picture. I'm not really sure how this "proves" that the grail has to be a woman, though.. expecially considering that Leonardo da Vinci was not present at the Last Supper, and the fact that the existance or non-existance of the Holy Grail is irrelevant to Christianity.
McKellen later refers to two books that have supposedly been suppressed by the Catholic Church, one of which is the "Gospel of Mary Magdeline". In reality, this book doesn't even exist.. but the Catholic Church did suppress some books in its early history, which are referred to as apocrypha. The books were suppressed because they claimed to be first hand accounts of Jesus' life, except they were written hundreds of years after anyone who could have met Jesus had died.
So, for all you out there with your knickers in a knot, there's no real reason to be up in arms here. It's no more a problem for Christianity than was Jurassic Park.
4. The "last" remaining descendant?
It's really hard to wipe out an entire bloodline. Why? Because after a few generations, you've got hundreds of people to kill off. For instance, in my own family tree, which I can trace back to Virginia in 1798, a field worker married the daughter of a wealthy plantation owner and had children. 200 years later, here I am, one of 30,000 descendants. Yes, you heard that right.. Thirty Thousand in 200 years.
So, the supposed Jesus Bloodline, that's been going around for 2000 years or so only has one, lonely descendant? Something is wrong there.
At any rate, the movie is well put together. It's got great music, great acting, and some really sneaky moments. I found some of the mysteries to be a little bit obvious, but there were others that I didn't see coming, so it was a mixed bag in that regard. That being said, I probably wouldn't watch it over again, just because the story hinges on the mystery.
Overall Score: 7 of 10
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