Movie Review:
The
Da Vinci Code
Directed
by
Ron
Howard
Produced
by
Brian
Grazer, Ron Howard, John Calley
Screenplay
by
Akiva
Goldsman
Based
on
The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown
Starring
Tom Hanks,
Audrey
Tautou, Ian McKellen, Alfred
Molina, Jürgen Prochnow, Paul
Bettany
Jean Reno, Jean-Pierre Marielle
Jean Reno, Jean-Pierre Marielle
Music
by
Hans
Zimmer
Cinematography Salvatore
Totino
Edited
by
Daniel P. Hanley, Mike Hill
Production
company: Imagine Entertainment Rainmaker Digital Effects Skylark
Productions
Distributed
by
Columbia Pictures
Release
dates May 19, 2006
Running
time
146 minutes (theatrical version), 174 minutes (extended version)
Country
United States
Language
English and French
Budget
$125 million
Box
office $758.2 million
Plot
analysis:
The movie began with the murder of the Jacques Saunière, who
seemed to know the secret of the Holy Grail. The
whole movie lies in the search for the Holy Grail, buried under the pyramid in the Louvre (Museum). In this movie, the Opus Dei group try their best to find
the hidden Holy Grail and destroy it, because they believe that the Holy Grail
could shake the foundations of Christianity.
Silas,
an Opus Dei, for every murder that he commits, flagellates himself for the
forgiveness of his sin. In the mean time, Robert Langdon and Sophie Neveu too are
determined to find the Holy Grail. However, a police captain suspected Robert
Landon to be the murderer of Jacques Saunière and pursued him till the end.
The core group of Opus Dei in this movie consists of a professor
called Sir Leigh Teabing and his assistant Remy Jean, Bishop Manuel Aringarosa and
Silas, and a police captain Bezu Fache. The whole group was secretly directed
and deceived by a teacher called Sir Leigh Teabing. He betrayed the whole group
and was arrested at the end.
Towards the end of the movie, Tom Hanks
confirms that Audrey Tautou is the last descendent of Jesus and Mary Magdalene,
whom the Priory of the Sion are supposed to protect. He placed Audrey Tautou in
the care of the Priory of the Sion.
Catholic and other
reactions:
- The Vatican: At a conference on April 28, 2006, the secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, a Vatican curial department, Archbishop Angelo Amato specifically called for a boycott of the film; he said the movie is "full of calumnies, offences, and historical and theological errors."
- Opus Dei
- American Catholic bishops
- Peru (Peruvian Episcopal Conference)
Censorship of the Movie:
China, Egypt, India, Jordan,
Lebanon, Pakistan, Philippines, Singapore, Solomon Islands, Sri Lanka, Thailand
and some other countries.
Critical evaluation: Davin Ci Code
1. What
is the purpose of this film?
The primary purpose is to earn profit.
Secondly, in the name of fictional movie it attacks on the Church’s belief on
Jesus Christ.
2. What
does the film communicate to the audience about God?
The film presents that the Catholic
Church is a lie and that Mary Magdalene was the wife of Jesus and had their
descendents.
3. Do
you agree with the concept of Jesus and Catholic Church presented in the film?
Absolutely not, it is a fictional
movie.
4. Why
do you think the protagonists have an atheistic view of reality?
In this movie the protagonists:
Robert Langdon and Sophie
Neveu were not believers of God. Robert Langdon was raised a Catholic but not a
practising Catholic, while Sophie Neveu who was supposed to be the descendent
of Jesus too did not believe in God.
5. What
implications do media and religion have for each other in this film?
In the name of fiction, media is
used here to instil in the minds of some people doubts and heresy.
Further analysis of the movie:
Dan Brown's
best-selling 2003 conspiracy fiction novel The Da Vinci Code and the subsequent 2006 film,[1] is all about finding the Holy Grail. This refers to the womb
of saint Mary Magdalene and the sacred royal bloodline she gave birth to and
the Church tried to kill off all remnants of this bloodline and their supposed
guardians, the Cathars and the Templars, so popes could hold the Episcopal
throne through the apostolic succession of Peter without fear of it ever being
usurped by an anti-pope for the hereditary succession of Mary Magdalene.
Many
things are said about the Priory of Sion, what is the truth?
In The Da Vinci Code, the Priory of Sion is a secret
society, founded A.D. 1099, claiming such members as Isaac Newton, Victor Hugo,
and Leonardo Da Vinci. According to The Da Vinci Code, the primary purpose of the Priory of
Sion is to maintain the truth that Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene and had
children with her. These children then intermarried with the Merovingian line
of Frankish kings, with the sacred bloodline surviving into modern times.
As with most of what is contained in The Da Vinci Code,
there is very little, if any, evidence that would support these conclusions
about the Priory of Sion. The Priory of Sion was founded in 1956, not 1099. The
supposed ledgers of members of the Priory of Sion are considered to be
fraudulent by most respected historians and scholars. The Da Vinci Code takes
the Priory of Sion, attaches unfounded conspiracy theories about its origins
and purposes, and uses it as evidence of a vast cover-up of Jesus’ marriage to
Mary Magdalene.
Jesus was not married to Mary Magdalene or to
anyone else. Jesus did not have children with Mary Magdalene or with anyone
else. The early church did not seek to cover this up because there was nothing
to cover up. The only conspiracy theory that involves the Priory of Sion is the
one invented by author Dan Brown and others, who are using wild imaginations
and unfounded theories to attack what the Bible says about who Jesus Christ
truly was and what He came to earth to do.[2]
Some
glaring misrepresentations of the truth:
The movie shows Opus
Dei as a secret society of the Church, whose work is to destroy anything that
will hinder the stability of the Church. In reality, Opus Dei means ‘Work of
God.'
The purpose of the association is to call all the people to holiness. It was
founded by St. Josemaria Excriva de Balaguer in Spain. Besides it also shows
that self flagellation can obtain forgiveness from God for the sins of murder,
which is absolutely false. There is a particular scene where the captain says
that the Bishop reveals confessional secret to him and that the bishop tells
him to kill Robert Langdon, a murder. This is an absolute lie, because the
confessional secret can never be revealed. It was also said that the Divinity and
Immortality of Jesus was confirmed by men in the Council of Nicene. However, in
truth Jesus was the Son of God. It is also shown that Mary Magdalene carried
the child of Jesus and gave birth to a child in France. This is nothing else
but a wild fiction. At the end, Robert Langdon tells Sophie that she was the
descendent of Jesus and says that Jesus was just the creation of man and was
not extraordinary. This again is a total lie and it is just a fiction. The
movie is but a wild imagination and nothing to do with the truth of the Church.
Any Christian and even people of the other faith
should try to find the truth from reliable sources and persons. To believe in
this movie is to believe in the imagination of some people whose prime motive
is to gain profit. This movie has taken a great liberty in distorting the truth
of Christianity. Therefore, it met with opposition world wide. However, for a
believer the truth will not be shaken by this movie. This movie also gives an
insight that one should not merely believe in whatever is presented in the
movie, especially with regard to the faith and religion.
Bro. Sebastian Guide: Fr. Robert Pen
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Priory_of_Sion, accessed September 29, 2015.
