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Kevin Michael Vance
Writer - Portland, Oregon
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Title: THE DA VINCI CODE
Director: Ron Howard
Year: 2006
Reviewed: May 20, 2006
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Birthday Cake-Second Highest Rating |
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All right, here it is. The Flippin' Da Vinci Code.
As a movie, (you should know this review is solely based on only seeing the film, and not being knowledgeable of the book) I give The Da Vinici Code a high BIRTHDAY CAKE review.
The brouhaha surrounding this flick is quite literally hilarious. Here you have a fictional story that questions an age-old religion, and there's rioting in the streets (well, not really, but kind'a). If you recall, the same thing happened to a little story called Last Temptation of Christ, and will probably happen to anything else, book or film or music, that threatens the fragile sensibilities of worshippers throughout the world.
The hilarious irony with all the hoopla- something the dubiously devout Christians, and or, Catholics could never hope to understand- is that the more ruckus they make, the more they warn the "faithful" and others to stay away from the film, the greater the interest and revenues it will garner. As a matter of fact, the louder they scream and chant and moan and sway and forewarn and vilify the more curious people will become. And as humans, we have always searched out that which incites our curiosity. Again, this is an intrinsically human fact that the nay Sayers and inquisitors of the film will never, ever be able to understand, because they are inherently looking and searching skyward, as are their flock, for something that resides within their own hearts and minds. I'm talking about our humanity and our ability to be human, not divine.
I have always been against censorship and I always will be. Censorship at its core is stupid. Think about it. Imagine if you will these same people, the ones only too willing to scream sacrilege, ignoring the film, actually standing back and saying, I am too strong and comfortable within my own faith to have it shattered, let alone, shaken by a work of fiction?
Imagine, what that might do. Seeing people of faith stand strong and proud, and I might ad, silent.
If there's one thing I've learned in life it's that the more people scream and yammer, the more noise they make, the more they're lying; which makes me wonder why a story, which is essentially fictional, is causing such a "stir" within the Christian community, some even going so far as to denounce the film as blasphemy and heresy. It makes me wonder what truths, if any, lay within the pages of the book, and or, between the frames of the movie. It makes me "curious" as to why the Catholic Church and Christians would be so threatened by something that is so obviously fictional.
Maybe there's more to be said for what Dan Brown has done. Maybe he's pressing a button that actually exists. Maybe he's hit upon a nerve, dare I say it, a nerve that leads to the truth, or at least, some aspect of the truth. I mean, why would "the church", an "organization" that's been around for centuries, be so frightened, so intimidated by a work of fiction?
This is only one of the questions I asked myself before going into the flick.
Now, as you can probably surmise my opinions and beliefs are much more agreeable towards the premise that the Da Vinci Code presents. Therefore, as a speculative work of fiction I did find it interesting. I like the questions it asked. I enjoyed the theories it presented. I do not think Catholic's or the Catholic Church are above reproach, far from it. The Catholic Church is a human institute, run and manipulated by humans. And as stated before, anything and everything run by humans should questioned. It is the intelligent thing to do. Period. If ones faith is shaken by honest and sincere questions, so be it. The same goes for if ones faith is strengthened. My point is we should, as a group and as individuals, question our government, our religious affiliations, our priests, our rabbis, our prophets, our presidents, our senators, our teachers; etc., etc.
Now, as far as the movie goes, it was entertaining. Granted, it was too long, some of the action sequences seemed slightly overblown, and I picked up on a lot of the "mystery". But the script was tight and concise; sometimes funny, sometimes profound. There were exceedingly good performances from Ian Mckellan, Paul Bettany, and the beauteous Audrey Taoutou. Hanks was good, but only that. However, in his defense he did not have much to draw on. The character of Robert Langdon is pretty well defined as one-dimensional, and it's really not the fault of Hanks that the source material from which he is being inspired happens to be relatively vacuous. As an adventure/mystery movie, it's all right. I would not go and see it again, but it was entertaining, and it did ask some very probing, very thoughtful, and very honest questions.
I for one think Dan Brown should be applauded, if not for creating a unique and interesting work of fiction, then for creating a dialogue about the discrepancies, hypocrisies, and outright lies the Catholic Church has perpetrated throughout the centuries.
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