No Truth Here

The Da Vinci Code is one big lie. The tagline is “Seek the truth,” but there’s no truth here. The Da Vinci Code is the best-selling second novel by author Dan Brown. 3 years later, the movie adaptation became the second highest grossing film of 2006. Despite its apparent popularity, The Da Vinci Code is one of the most controversial stories in recent memory. The book and movie were banned in numerous countries. As a Christian, I knew it was offensive, but I didn’t know how blasphemous it was until I eventually watched it. Despite boasting Academy Award winning talent like Ron Howard, Tom Hanks, Hans Zimmer, and Akiva Goldsman, The Da Vinci Code was rightfully torn apart by critics. I would’ve disliked the movie regardless, but it is a painfully dull 2 and a half hours to get through. Hanks plays Harvard professor Robert Langdon who has the fictional symbologist profession.

Aside from dealing with a traumatic incident from his childhood, Langdon spends most of his time lecturing the audience about history. Unlike the more entertaining National Treasure, altering religious history isn’t the same as altering political history. The opening takes place in the French Louvre museum where the Mona Lisa is kept. The museum curator Jacques Saunière is murdered and made to look like the Vitruvian Man. For a PG-13 film, there is a lot of blood and nudity. Paul Bettany can’t help but stand out as an albino monk named Silas who committed the murder and flagellates his naked body. Silas is part of the extreme Opus Dei institution of the Catholic Church. I’m not Catholic, but I can imagine they weren’t happy about the depiction. Alfred Molina is Bishop Aringarosa who tries to cover something up. He also enlists Police Captain Bezu Fache to hunt down the suspected Langdon. The two most recognizable French actors are Jean Reno and Audrey Tautou. Reno is Fache and Tautou is his police cryptographer Sophie Neveu.

Sophie goes on the run with Langdon to decode her slain grandfather’s Fibonacci sequence. They use his keystone to find a cryptex that contains a papyrus message that leads to the Holy Grail. Jürgen Prochnow plays bank manager Andre Vernet who seems like an ally, but ends up betraying them. Though his character is the most offensive, Ian McKellen is still at the top of his game as wealthy Holy Grail expert Sir Leigh Teabing. He uses The Last Supper to reveal a supposed cover up. SPOILER ALERT! What makes the book/movie truly blasphemous is the theory that Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene and had a daughter. The Grail actually refers to the tomb of Mary Magdalene. The Priory of Sion protect the bloodline that is now threatened by Opus Dei. Teabing and his butler Remy Jean seem like allies, but the former plots to undermine Christianity. What’s worse is who the “last descendant of Jesus Christ” ends up being in the end. The Da Vinci Code is offensive on so many levels that I could never get behind.

Robert Langdon and Sophie Neveu with the Cryptex

Followed by: Angels & Demons