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The Da Vinci Code 21 May 06

Section: article

Categories: distraction / in-a-cinema

This is a simple, well done mainstream movie, but the most interesting thing about it is the religious reaction it has spawned and the confused response to it among reviewers.

They just don’t know how to act.

The church doesn’t like it when people think about things, even a little. The Christian right doesn’t either.

The opposite of faith is thought, I think. Or at least I think that is what the church thinks. A mainstream movie which deals with religion and does not mystify it, does not adhere to a prescript of mystification of that theme, could find itself being targeted by the church and the Christian right. The opposite of mystification is matter-of-fact look at, for example, the deity of Christ, to consider the possibility that he was simply a man (which he was of course, assuming he existed). To take it a step further and suggest that he had a wife with whom he slept and had children is going too far. This thought could spark further thought and questioning in the minds of the religiously inclined members of the audience and begin to loosen whatever moral tethers had bound them to their Christian beliefs.

This movie doesn’t need defending, it is just an entertainment film. The response to the movie has been that some critics have been confused and negative about it, for whatever reasons, weak reasons, as far as I have read. And many have attacked it as being offensive to the church and preposterous in its premises.

I believe a lot of critics just don’t know how to behave for fear of being targeted themselves by the church or the Christian right in the current oppressive atmosphere in the U.S.

The U.S. film reviewer Roger Ebert had to begrudgingly admit ("The movie works." →) that it was well done, but at the same time finds it necessary to preserve his credentials as a team player which might otherwise be jeopardized by his liking the film. He compares the notions put forward in the film to the notion that the Pentagon was not hit by a plane on 9/11, essentially saying that anyone crazy enough to entertain the (actually completely plausible) premises of the film’s story is a wacky conspiracy theorist, and un-American at that. So Ebert is a good boy.

Both contain accusations against the Catholic Church and its order of Opus Dei that would be scandalous if anyone of sound mind could possibly entertain them.

This has the advantage of distracting them from the theory that the Pentagon was not hit by an airplane.

We certainly don’t want to offend an institution which has murdered its own popes, led genocidal crusades, supported fascism, partially institutionalized pederasty and supported social relations throughout the world which cause untold suffering for mostly women and children.

The Codices of Nag Hammadi

For some years now I have occasionally read passages of the so-called Nag Hammadi codices. I find them poetic and moving, and somehow earthy and of this earth. They were discovered in 1945 and have been suppressed by the church.

Relevant links:

The Gnostic Society Library →

The Nag Hammadi Library →

The Gnostic Texts of Nag Hammadi

These religious (or Gnostic) texts propose interpretations and Christian rituals that are different from those officialised in 325 AC and which were immediately rejected as heretical at the time. That is why they were gathered together, protected and hidden by the so-called deviant communities.

Quotes from the Codices of Nag Hammadi

From The Gospel of Thomas:

Jesus said, "If you bring forth what is within you, what you bring forth will save you. If you do not bring forth what is within you, what you do not bring forth will destroy you." (As translated here →)

From The Sophia (Wisdom) of Jesus Christ:

After he rose from the dead, his twelve disciples and seven women continued to be his followers, and went to Galilee onto the mountain called "Divination and Joy". When they gathered together and were perplexed about the underlying reality of the universe and the plan, and the holy providence, and the power of the authorities, and about everything the Savior is doing with them in the secret of the holy plan, the Savior appeared – not in his previous form, but in the invisible spirit. And his likeness resembles a great angel of light. But his resemblance I must not describe. No mortal flesh could endure it, but only pure, perfect flesh, like that which he taught us about on the mountain called "Of the Olives" in Galilee.

And he said: "Peace be to you, My peace I give you!" And they all marveled and were afraid. The Savior laughed and said to them: "What are you thinking about? Are you perplexed? What are you searching for?"
Philip said: "For the underlying reality of the universe and the plan."
The Savior said to them: "I want you to know that all men are born on earth from the foundation of the world until now, being dust, while they have inquired about God, who he is and what he is like, have not found him. Now the wisest among them have speculated from the ordering of the world and (its) movement. But their speculation has not reached the truth. For it is said that the ordering is directed in three ways, by all the philosophers, (and) hence they do not agree. For some of them say about the world that it is directed by itself. Others, that it is providence (that directs it). Others, that it is fate. But it is none of these. Again, of the three voices I have just mentioned, none is close to the truth, and (they are) from man. But I, who came from Infinite Light, I am here – for I know him (Light) – that I might speak to you about the precise nature of the truth. For whatever is from itself is a polluted life; it is self-made. Providence has no wisdom in it. And fate does not discern. But to you it is given to know; and whoever is worthy of knowledge will receive (it), whoever has not been begotten by the sowing of unclean rubbing but by First Who Was Sent, for he is an immortal in the midst of mortal men."

Matthew said to him: "Lord, no one can find the truth except through you. Therefore teach us the truth."
The Savior said: "He Who Is is ineffable. No principle knew him, no authority, no subjection, nor any creature from the foundation of the world until now, except he alone, and anyone to whom he wants to make revelation through him who is from First Light. From now on, I am the Great Savior. For he is immortal and eternal. Now he is eternal, having no birth; for everyone who has birth will perish. He is unbegotten, having no beginning; for everyone who has a beginning has an end. Since no one rules over him, he has no name; for whoever has a name is the creation of another." (As translated here →)

(Note: in the movie and book, the female protagonist’s name is Sophie.)

  • Title: The Da Vinci Code
  • Directed by: Ron Howard
  • Writing credits: Akiva Goldsman (screenplay), Dan Brown (novel)
  • Starring: Tom Hanks, Audrey Tautou, Ian McKellen, Jean Reno, Paul Bettany, Alfred Molina...
  • Year: 2006
  • Cinema: Turm Kino, Frankfurt