The Da Vinci Code Hype (2003/2006)
A murder in Paris' Louvre Museum and cryptic clues in some of Leonardo da Vinci's most famous paintings lead to the discovery of a religious mystery. For 2,000 years a secret society closely guards information that -- should it come to light -- could rock the very foundations of Christianity.-WWW
Initial release: May 19, 2006 (USA)
Director: Ron Howard
Written for the screen by: Akiva Goldsman
Running time: 2h 54m
Adapted from: The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown
Film series: Robert Langdon Series
- Tom Hanks as Robert Langdon---I think this role suits him
- Audrey Tautou as Sophie Neveu ---She's really phenomenal and has a certain charm
- Ian McKellen as Sir Leigh Teabing ---I saw Magneto and Gandalf
- Paul Bettany as Silas---a very great and versatile actor...he was my favorite here
- Jean Reno as Bezu Fache
- Alfred Molina as Bishop Aringarosa---tsk, tsk, tsk goes to his character---did he act well? Yes, indeed!
- Jürgen Prochnow as André Vernet
- Charlotte Graham as Mary Magdalene
- Etienne Chicot as Lieutenant Jérôme Collet---he always plays his role well
- Jean-Yves Berteloot as Remy Jean (Rémy Legaludec in the novel)
- Jean-Pierre Marielle as Jacques Saunière
- Hugh Mitchell as young Silas
- Seth Gabel as Michael the Cleric
- Marie-Françoise Audollent as Sister Sandrine
SPOILER ALERT
THE DA VINCI HYPE
by Lara Mia Veronica
A person who loves the Lord (not blindly, mind you!) would never falter even if he reads the book or watches the movie. The danger about reading and watching lies on the fact that not everyone who is a "believer" really understands what his faith really is.
I know about this.
When I was younger, I was a very devout catholic...devout in the sense that I followed blindly whatever was spoon-fed to me by my family and by my schools. Unfortunately, when I reached my teens, this faith was tested, and I failed. I, who was exposed to the faith at a very young age and a servant of the Lord at that, started to question my faith, (what was the extent of my faith at that very young age...Holy Spirit, a school founded by St. Arnold Janssen who promoted the Holy Triune God, the Eucharist and all...has the best pre-communion catechism ever...they taught us, at least during our time, what the Eucharist meant...that we should prepare for communion etcetera, etcetera...that we were receiving the Body of Christ---and I still faltered, ha! So it's not a wonder if visionaries being human falter too---but that's another story).
It was no surprise that I was easily swayed by whatever "new" thing that was presented to me. I slipped and joined another form of faith (I am happy to announce that even if I left my original fold, I still worshiped with true Christians, not a cult! They really love the Lord there), which I don't regret because I learned how to love my faith more and have met friends that are still dear to me until now. We have learned to accept each other's beliefs. I totally respect them!
How did I learn to love my faith more? You see, I love to read. Yes, I wasn't such a lover of text books or anything that would grade or evaluate me, but I loved to research because I learned at an early age that I could also earn something from it. Thank God for that.
In the course of my researches, I found out that my faith, though not TOTALLY relying on scriptures alone, is very scriptural indeed! Everything that my forefathers believed has a basis and yes, after St. Peter, there was a direct line of popes. St. Linus became pope before 100AD. Some of the apostles were still alive back then. After him, still within the 1st century came St. Anacletus, St. Clement I, St. Evaristus (exactly on 100AD), then came St. Alexander I and I can go on and on until we reach Pope Benedict XVI.
The Catholic Church does not teach its faithful that they should worship the artwork or the images that the artists created. These artwork or images are reminders that ordinary people like us...sinners at that...could be saints. We also have to understand where Da Vinci was coming from. Young men during his time were depicted in art as effeminate, sweet and beautiful...some of the other paintings he did, like John the Beloved, really look like a gorgeous female or a pretty homosexual. Luckily for us, Leonardo Da Vinci put labels on his sketches and Mary of Magdala was nowhere to be found.
The great misconception came from Pope Gregory the Great. During his time, around the 6th century, there were no chapters and the verses were not numbered. He quoted the Gospel of Luke and thought that Mary of Magdala was the same as Mary of Bethany. Luke declared that he was very meticulous (he told a certain Theophilus---lover of God--- that) and if he was pertaining to Mary of Magdala, he would have named her then.
Mr. Brown is also wrong when he said she came from the tribe of Benjamin. If you would study the map, Magdala is in the tribe of Zebulun...it's very, very far from the tribe of Benjamin.
Everything about the Catholic Church has a biblical basis. I may not be an expert on a lot things and I'm still learning, but I can say that now, I am not a blind follower so to speak.
Leonardo Da Vinci is a genius and a great artist. It's so unfair that this person was used by many to confuse the members of our church.
If you love the Lord and you study about your faith, you would just laugh at the "facts" presented by this Mr. Brown. I even made a review that it's an exciting book to read, but I have friends who literally lost their faith in the whole Christendom...and in Christ Himself...when they read the book.
Some of these friends are teenagers, but the sad part is, that most of these friends are even older than I am. They believe everything and even warned that my faith would falter.
Hey, I'm not perfect. As a Christian, I still sin...maybe that's why I'm still alive. I still have unfinished businesses besides that mission in life.
Yet, I must say, that after researching about the Lord and my faith, Dan Brown's book is not a big deal! Yet, I don't want to make him richer than he already is. I know that he made those statements claiming that even if his work is fiction, certain things are "factual".
He really knew that he would make some noise. He knew from the start that his books will be best sellers. He knew that not everyone would check the facts first just like any gossiper/rumor monger or chain letter forwarder or hoax spreader.
True enough, that's what happened. He got what he wanted.
The sad thing was before reading the book, a lot of our Christian brethren (separated or not) banned it making more people curious about it (like what happened with the movie LIVE SHOW...more people watched it when it was banned...it turned out to be socially relevant...a thinker's movie...it was pre-judged without knowing the real content and message). The nice thing about this hype that happened was that all Christians who believe in the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ are united now.
Yes, us Catholics are not the only ones Mr. Brown is triggering. He attacked all Christendom. Now, almost everyone who cares about his faith is researching.
Come on. What is Mr. Brown trying to celebrate? He wants the world to believe hedonism is the right way and not the path to holiness? He believes that darkness reigns and not light?
I don't think he REALLY believes that. He just happens to be a talented person who contradicts himself most of the time and gets away with it. Sounds familiar? Many cults have leaders like that.
Yes, Mr. Brown is a "wise guy"! Yet, he is using his talent in the wrong manner.
I pray for Mr. Brown and the likes of him. Other writers before him that wrote similar stuff already retracted what they said. They admit they were wrong.
What Mr. Brown is saying is not new at all. The Church was attacked as early as day 1.
Our Parish, Jesus the Divine Healer, has this Faith Enrichment Program. One of the projects was THE DA VINCI DECEPTION. It was held at our Parish Center and was a success.
At first there were only a few people and I was praying that more would come. Row-by-row, the place was filled. The people did not leave until the last word of the last resource person (Father Stephen) and when the others had to leave, a lot still remained for the open forum.
I can say that I am so happy that people are really interested to know how to defend their faith...our faith.
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The Church is NOT stopping us from watching the film or reading the book, but we must be informed that we should keep in mind that it is a work of fiction just like any CIA, FBI or whatever kind of film that mixes fact and fiction...but what for?
THE FREE MASONRY CONNECTION
Disclaimer: I don't hate Masons. I actually respect a lot of them. I even have friends who are Masons. Even if others are just there because of connections, I know there are people who are serious with their beliefs and I respect that.
My dad's father, Domingo Garcia Sr., was a member of this "brotherhood". I know a lot of people, of course not all, who joined this group for "networking" purposes, but does everyone really understand it?
This group has its own creed. The higher ups of course know that it is not just a "business" club like the Rotarians or whatever else.
What's the Da Vinci Code connection?
If you're an avid National Geographic or Discovery Channel viewer, you would have watched Da Vinci for Dummies etc. Some of their resource persons and some of the writers who promulgate Mary of Magdala as the Holy Grail or the Sacred Feminine (a title belonging to our Blessed Mother) and as the wife of Jesus, are Masons.
We are very fortunate to belong to this era (though some believe otherwise) because we do not rely on hearsay alone...we have lots of resources to prove that what we believe in is the real thing.
Our faith is real because it teaches good and not evil...light and not darkness...
The Gnostic Gospels (teach about orgies and other stuff) and other manuscripts, yes, they exist, but the writers exalt the ones they claim to be (but simple deduction tells us that it is highly improbable that they are the ones who wrote the text because realistically speaking they should be dead by that time) and not God.
For instance, the Gospel of Judas. Yes, it's a real one not accepted by the Church. Why? It contradicts the Gospel truth of humility...Imagine, Jesus saying to Judas that he would be the GREATEST of all...hahaha!
I'm not anyone to judge the real Judas. Only God knows where he is right now, but since he was dead already when it was written, the contents of his gospel could not be factual...even if he had a biographer, that biographer could not have been alive that time...if he passed it generation to generation, some facts might've been distorted already.
My grandfather was fortunate to accept Jesus before he died (we were in Italy when he died-we attended St. Josemaria Escriva's beatification last May 1992), but I continue praying for his soul (Happy birthday, lolo! [he was born on May 12, 1897]).
I hope when my time comes, I'll be worthy to enter God's kingdom.
BACK TO THE HYPE
The resource people at the Parish Center showed us that Mr. Brown contradicted himself...like the word COMPANION...Mr. Brown said the scrolls and other texts were written in Coptic (an old Egyptian language), then he said, ANY ARAMAIC SCHOLAR would know that companion is equivalent to spouse...Coptic texts more often than not were translated from Greek...Koinonos (Companion, business partner, someone you have something in common with, comrade etc.), Koinonia is the Greek word that means Communications/Communion/Community/FELLOWSHIP)... Both of them are Koine GREEK words (Koine is a standard form of Lingua Franca of the Roman Empire and was used as the ORIGINAL language of the NEW TESTAMENT)...female spouse is called (gyne--woman)--sounds familiar?
There are many OTHER hoaxes there...he purposely mixed a lot of things and like Leigh (one of the authors of Holy Blood, Holy Grail--- Richard Leigh) Teabing (an anagram of Baigent as in Michael Baigent) he also mixed a lot of facts like saying the scrolls were Christian...they are not Christian writing...and the council of Nicea (about the Deity of Jesus) only two voted against it...tsk, tsk, and Teabing said in the book and in the movie that it was a close call.
:-)
Anyways, enough already.
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