Monday, May 22, 2006

I Saw The Da Vinci Code

My daughters church youth group wanted to go see it, so off we went.

Not bad, not great.

They did a good job of being faithful to the book, but the book was not all that. It was what I call a traveling book, great for reading in a plane or when waiting on a connection. It didn't require a great deal of thought, and was distracting enough to keep you from going mad while on the road.

The kids did enjoy the movie, and what is most reassuring.

They knew it was fiction, a fact that appears to have evaded many who are speaking against this film.

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3 comments:

Deacon Tim said...

LOTR, it wasn't. I for one, was disappointed. I thought that Ron Howard's choice to gloss over Brown's sexual mystery cult theory and the Nicene controversies was silly--the fundies were mad already, why pander now? Anyway, the acting was passable, the lighting suitably noir, and the plot thick. But it's tought to put a book in a movie, so if this things has nay value, it may simply lie in the fact that, for the first time, many Christians are discovering the great diversity of the pre-Nicene church.

My biggest complaint about the DaVinci plot is: if Jesus' wife and child escaped Palestine after Easter, I doubt they would have gone to France. Magdalene would have had better taste, I'm sure.

Jon said...

But it's tought to put a book in a movie

Exactly, a novel, even a short one, is to rich to compress into 2 hours of time.

You are exactly right about the pre-Nicene church. It always strikes me that many of the more fundemental sects and people are totaly unaware of any history that pre dates WWII.

I do like what one friend said of Ron Howard:

He makes prety films, not great, not powerful, byt prety.

That seems to sum it up in this case.

Jon said...

I do think that what scares some of those who are denouncing the film it the blending of legit historical facts (the Councel of Nicene, Mary M past, the evolution of the church) with fantasy ( the meat of his story).

For those with a poor grasp of history, the factual revelations lend credability to the fantasy.

And since some Christians have embraced some details of history that are false, the removial of these points of reference, could make the rest more viable.

For those who have a better understanding (like the kids I was with Sunday), it never becomes an issue.