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The Da Vinci Code

Sunday, May 21, 2006 2:15 AM


I saw The DaVinci Code last night.

Frankly, I'm a bit mystified at why some Christians feel they have to protest, denounce, or otherwise protect their faith and the public from the film (or the book).

It's a mystery novel. Perhaps one that is well-grounded in historical events, but this is nothing new. There are no world-shattering secrets, not even a heretofore unknown revelation that would make the most devout Christian recant.

It is a bit long on verbiage, but scriptwriter Akiva Goldman manages to convey the depth of the historical trivia that comprises the core of the story without rendering it completely lifeless. Still, folks whose experience of archaeology is Indiana Jones and Lara Croft may, perhaps, find this too dry for their tastes.

The casting is excellent, with Tom Hanks making a believable Robert Langdon. Sir Ian McKellen brings in a fabulous - possibly Oscar-worthy - performance as Sir Leigh Teabing. Alfred Molina and Jean Reno also breathe life into their respective characters.

And Silas is both an ominous, eerie figure as well as a tragic one. A scene depicting his ritual corporeal chastisement is just graphic enough to underscore the extremes, even fictionalized and perhaps exaggerated ones, to which the servant of a cause might be driven.

Yet through it all, the core question of The DaVinci Code comes down to belief. What one believes, what one chooses to believe is just that - a choice. Dan Brown's story is a work of fiction, and I'd cast a skeptical eye on anyone who professes it to contain the truth on anything.

But this should be self-evident. All of the videos and books purporting to 'debunk' The DaVinci Code are free publicity. They spawn the very controversy they claim to dismiss.

I would hope that Christians, interested in the history of their faith, explore subjects like the Council of Nicea, the Knights Templar, and the Crusades - not as Dan Brown strings them together, but as important to the creation of the Bible, the history of an important and powerful order in medieval history, and the history of a series of major military campaigns that had broad repercussions in Europe.

(Incidentally, I have read neither Holy Blood, Holy Grail nor any of the Gnostic Gospels, though I was pretty fascinated by Leonardo DaVinci when I was a boy.)


The Ministry has received 1 comment(s) on this topic.



Brin - 2006-05-21 02:22:17
The protestors are the same batch of know-nothings whose wailings to not go see The Last Temptation Of Christ and the non existent Corpus Christi are free publicity machines. Trying to talk any sense into most of these well meaning but strangely misdirected folks is about as much fun as dealing with a stripped screw-head. In other words, They Ain't Budging.