The Da Vinci Code (film)

“The only thing that matters is what YOU believe.”
 (quote from the end of the movie)

The Da Vinci Code opened in theaters May 19th to rather negative reviews. Even the cast and crew seemed very sullen at its debut at the Cannes Film Festival in France earlier in the week.

This film has been a huge point of contention between many different groups of people, Christians, Muslims, Jews, historians, and scholars. I don’t want to go too much into the history or fiction of this film as others have done a great job at correcting those errors (you can read some at the end of the article). Just for the record though, Tom Hanks, who plays the lead character in the movie, said that the story was “loaded with all sorts of hooey and fun kind of scavenger-hunt-type nonsense.”

In brief, it’s about solving a murder that is linked to a cover up about the divinity of Jesus Christ. Robert Langdon, a symbologist professor at Harvard, and criminal cryptologist, Sophie Neveu, are on a scavenger hunt to find an unknown something. They are following the clues of Sophie’s murdered grandfather. Along the way they discover “the dark con of man” or “the biggest cover up in human history.” They discover that the Holy Grail was not the cup of Christ, but something quite different. Amidst all this, they are chased by the police and Opus Dei, a Catholic order.

As far as the movie goes, I think they took what could have been good entertainment and made it something to be suffered through by those hoping to see Indiana Jones – only to discover a blundering professor who’s not sure of how to use his nonexistent whip.

Tom Hanks, who plays Langdon, seems uncomfortable in his character. His delivery is not up to his usual ability. Those lines, however, just come across as contrived and silly, and I don’t think it would matter who said them.

Audrey Tautou, who plays Sophie, does a little better. Though I wonder how she got her job as a criminal cryptologist, as she offers no help whatsoever throughout the film but her expert backward-driving skills.

I also found the movie a tad condescending and the contrived puzzles very easy to crack. I heard it said that the book made you feel smart. Well, the movie makes you feel dumb.

As other reviewers have said, this was a long movie with a lot of dialogue punctuated by brief bits of action. I found my self looking at my clock several times wondering when the movie would be over.

On a more positive note, in comparing what I have read about the book, I found that the movie has indeed softened the corrupted history. The main falsities are still there, of course. But we have to remember that this is fiction and historical fiction writers have been doing this same thing for centuries.

They take real people, and real events, and manipulate a story around them. For example, in The Man in the Iron Mask, by Alexandre Dumas, he writes of Louis XIV of France and his twin brother, Philippe. The Musketeers (from his earlier book, The Three Musketeers) plot with the twin, in order to restore him to his rightful place on the French throne.

Now, Louis the XIV was a real king, the Musketeers were a real troop, even the named Musketeers were real people. Louis XIV did, in fact, have a brother named Philippe. But did this replacing of the king with his long lost twin brother ever happen? No, because there was no question as to who the king really was, because his brother was much younger and never hidden. So did the French get up in arms about this falsifying of French history?

Now, The Da Vinci Code is again corrupting French history, but the French don’t care, because they know it isn’t true, they know it is just a story1. So I don’t think we need to be too upset about this “hooey.”  If we really believe the Bible and know it to be true, it doesn’t matter what anyone else says about it. It doesn’t make the Bible any less true.

I don’t know about you, but when I see a movie about historical events, I know it has been “Hollywoodized” or changed to fit the belief system of the current day and usually – if the movie is good enough – I end up at the library looking into the time period and events for myself.

I do believe that we should be upset by the slander on our Lord and the idolatry of worshiping anyone other that God and His Son as we see in this movie. But we can use it to talk about the real Jesus. People are fascinated by all this and willing to talk about the truth and fiction of the story.

On the whole, as a movie, if you like stories about searching for the Holy Grail, I would recommend watching Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade over this movie. Jones at least knows how to use a whip and his history is a little better.

[Caution spoilers ahead]

Facts about the basic The Da Vinci Code theological and historical problems (some of these are also discussed in John Ed Robertson book review, click here)

1. The fabled protectorate of the Holy Grail, the Priory of Sion, is based on an organization that was created by Frenchman, Pierre Plantard, in 1956. From 1964 – 1989, his claims evolved from an old myth about a poor priest who found some papers and got rich off of them. He twisted the story to say that he was the rightful heir to the French throne. He went on to claim that his organization (with these royal claims) was much older and included members such as Leonardo Da Vinci and Sir Isaac Newton. He got the help of a starving actor and a pig farmer turned author to help spread his story in a book, L’Or de Rennes. In this book, he never mentions that the line of royalty he supposedly belongs to was Divine, that bit was added to the con by Henry Soskin (Lincoln) who was working on the book, Holy Blood, Holy Grail with authors Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh in the 1980’s. Plantard played along until it proved unhelpful to his cause. He confessed that he made up the story under the influence of LSD.
(http://www.cesnur.org/2005/pa_introvigne.htm and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre_Plantard)

2. Dan Brown argues that the figure to Jesus right in Da Vinci’s painting “The Last Supper” is actually Mary Magdalene because of the person’s feminine appearance. According to art historians the Florentine method of painting (Da Vinci’s method) would portray young men as more feminine because of the common practices of pedophile in the middle ages. Brown also argues that Jesus and Mary were married which is not supported by either secular or Biblical scholarship. (http://arthistory.about.com/od/renaissanceart/a/altheyoungdudes.htm and http://www.thetruthaboutdavinci.com/christian-analysis-of-da-vinci-code.html)

3. Brown also argues that the Knights Templar (who were arrested, tortured, and eventually, destroyed by the French King Philip IV in 1307) were in charge of safeguarding the Holy Grail. He claims that that is why they were destroyed. In reality, they were poor knights who had gained too many riches and too much power. The king was scared that he would lose his power to them so he destroyed them. The event described in the movie is accurate except in its motive.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knights_Templar and other sources)

Some other good resources are:
www.thetruthaboutdavinci.com put together by the Westminster Theological Seminary
www.thedavincidialogue.com put out by Sony and Grace Hill Media. It includes commentary by Chuck Colson, Lee Strobel, Josh McDowell, Charles Ryrie and others.
The Da Vinci Code: Fact or Fiction? Book by Hank Hanegraaf and Paul L Maier.

The Film Facts
The Da Vinci Code
Rated PG 13 for disturbing images, violence, some nudity, thematic material, brief drug references and sexual content.
Directed by Ron Howard
Screenplay by Akiva Goldsman, based on the book by Dan Brown
Starring Tom Hanks, Audrey Tautou, Ian McKellen, Paul Bettany, Alfred Molina