With the recent release of the The Da Vinci Code DVD I thought this would be a good time to discuss the movie, how it compares to the book and some other somewhat controversial ideas. 

The Da Vinci Code is a mystery/detective novel written by Dan Brown. It is based on the controversial premise that there is a conspiracy within the Roman Catholic Church to cover up the true story of Jesus. The book and Director Ron Howard's adequate adaptation of it opens on a spectacularly creepy note. A curator at the Louvre in Paris uses his dying moments to leave elaborate clues scrawled in his own blood. It's up to Robert Langdon (played by Tom Hanks), a Harvard symbologist, and French police cryptologist Sophie Neveu (played by Audrey Tautou) to crack the code.

There are many codes to translate and decipher making this murder mystery more of a mental thriller than an action movie.  This works real well at the book level but film is a visual medium.  It might take several chapters and a great deal of detail in the book to explain various codes and clues. In the movie, however, it is sometimes covered in one or two scenes, perhaps, in just a matter of seconds. Consequently, to get the full understanding of clues, codes and characters it would be best to read the book before seeing the movie.

In most cases, the book is usually a lot better and we’re sometimes disappointed in the movie after reading a book. For example, I was somewhat disappointed with both The Godfather and Jaws movies having read both books before seeing each movie. It wasn’t until several years later, after seeing the movies several times, that I realized how great these movies were… and still are.

Nevertheless, in my opinion, if you read the Da Vinci Code book you’ll enjoy the movie. However, if you only see the movie then you might find it a little confusing.

I thought that Tom Hanks and Audrey Tautou gave cautious, uninspired performances as puzzle solvers and Holy Grail seekers on the run from an albino killer monk. I thought that Tom Hanks, in particular, was usually too quiet, pensive and not animated enough. Perhaps I was waiting to see Forrest Gump, Chuck Noland, Captain John H. Miller or even Jim Lovell. Perhaps when I read the book I created in my mind a Robert Langdon that was certainly not Tom Hanks.

What’s usually great about a book and, consequently, a movie is that it creates a backdrop of truthful images, characters and ideas. That is, a great deal of the background is based on verifiable and truthful events. When I read the book I wasn’t sure how much was made up and how much was truthful. Did the Knights Templar actually exist? How about Opus Dei, the Priory of Sion and the Holy Grail? The real question, of course, is did Jesus marry Mary Magdalene and did they have a child?

The novel and movie have helped generate popular interest in speculation concerning the Holy Grail legend and the role of Mary Magdalene in the history of Christianity. According to this premise, the Vatican knows it is living a lie, but continues to do so to keep itself in power.

I decided to do some research and found some interesting concepts and ideas. The Knights Templar, for example, did exist but the claim that the Order of the  Knights Templar  was formed by the Priory of Sion is entirely false. The Priory of Sion has been proven to be a hoax which was started in France in 1956. The Templars were founded in the early 12th century by a French nobleman who was a veteran of the First Crusade.

The most important research, however, had to do with Mary Magdalene and her relation to Jesus. In my readings, Mary Magdalene emerges as a prominent follower of Jesus identified as the first apostle or disciple. She is mentioned in all of the accepted gospels by Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. There is always a pre-eminent Mary in all these gospels.

The idea that Mary Magdalene was a prostitute is a misconception. There is no scriptural evidence. There is a “woman of the city who is a sinner” mentioned in Luke’s gospel. Unfortunately, Pope Gregory the Great identified this sinner as Mary Magdalene. In 1969, however, the Church officially cleared Mary Magdalene of the label of prostitute.

Is it possible that Jesus and Mary Magdalene were married? Yes! Is there evidence of this? No… well, maybe!

In 1945 there were documents found dating back to the second century. These were Gnostic Gospels which included gospels of Thomas, Philip and Mary. In the gospel of Philip it is stated that “Jesus often kissed Mary on her…” It is not known where Jesus actually kissed her since this part of the document was erased.

There seems to be a new view of Mary Magdalene in many documents: that she might have been the pregnant wife crying at the cross.

There were many other interesting ideas that I found in my research. Here are some:  

The claim that the Templars gained power because of something they excavated in Jerusalem is false. They gained power for several reasons - one of those reasons is that one of the most powerful churchmen of the time, Bernard de Clairvaux (later declared a Saint), who was also a nephew of one of the original nine knights, supported them. He wrote a powerful letter called "In Praise of the New Knighthood" and spoke on their behalf at the Council of Troyes in 1128 (nine years after the Order's founding). It was at that council that the Order was officially recognized and confirmed which is what triggered the support and donations that started pouring in from around Europe. 

The legend of The Holy Grail alleged that a sacred relic (either the cup used at the Last Supper or the cup said to have been used by Joseph of Arimathea to collect blood of Christ, or both) existed  which would bring untold blessings to any pure knight who found it. The story appeared around the time of the Crusades (for rather obvious reasons), disappeared and then resurfaced in Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur. In old French, The Holy Grail would be translated as 'San Graal'. However the Da Vinci Code changed this to be 'Sang Real' which would mean 'Royal Blood'. The term "Sangreal" was coined by Medieval writers giving the original Gothic word a false etimology to create an atmosphere of romanticism. There is also no evidence that the Knights Templar found any such thing under The Temple.

Albinos typically have very poor vision. In fact, many are legally blind. It is, therefore, highly unlikely that the albino Silas could ever become an expert marksman or even that he could drive at night. 

According to the novel and movie, the secrets of the Holy Grail, as kept by the Priory of Sion, are as follows:  

-         The Holy Grail is not a physical chalice but a woman, namely Mary Magdalene, who carried the bloodline of Christ  

-         The Old French expression for the Holy Grail, San gréal, actually is a play on Sang réal, which literally means "royal blood" in Old French.  

-         The Grail relics consist of the documents that testify to the bloodline, as well as the actual bones of Mary Magdalene.  

-         The Grail relics of Mary Magdalene were hidden by the Priory of Sion in a secret crypt, perhaps beneath Rosslyn Chapel.  

-         The Church has suppressed the truth about Mary Magdalene and the Jesus bloodline for 2000 years. This is principally because they fear the power of the sacred feminine in and of itself and because this would challenge the primacy of Saint Peter as an apostle.  

-         Mary Magdalene was of royal descent (through the Jewish House of Benjamin) and was the wife of Jesus of the House of David. That she was a prostitute was slander invented by the Church to obscure their true relationship. At the time of the Crucifixion, she was pregnant. After the Crucifixion, she fled to Gaul where she was sheltered by the Jews of Marseille. She gave birth to a daughter named Sarah. The bloodline of Jesus and Mary Magdalene became the Merovingian dynasty of France.  

-    The existence of the bloodline was the secret that was contained in the documents discovered by the Crusaders after they conquered Jerusalem in 1099. The Priory of Sion and the Knights Templar were organized to keep the secret.

The secrets of the Grail are connected, according to the novel and movie, to Leonardo Da Vinci's work because Leonardo was a member of the Priory of Sion and knew the secret of the Grail. The secret is revealed in The Last Supper, in which no actual chalice is present at the table. The figure seated next to Christ is not a man but a woman, his wife Mary Magdalene. Most reproductions of the work are from a later alteration that obscured her obvious female characteristics.  Also, the androgyny of the Mona Lisa reflects the sacred union of male and female which is implied in the holy union of Jesus and Mary Magdalene. Such parity between the cosmic forces of masculine and feminine has long been a deep threat to the established power of the Church.

Because of controversial interpretations of Christian history, both the book and movie version of The Da Vinci Code have been the target of criticism by the Roman Catholic Church. Some bishops even urged members to boycott the film. Many of the early showings were accompanied by protesters outside the movie theaters. However, in its opening weekend the film earned over $224 million worldwide, second only to the opening of 2005's Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. It was the second highest grossing movie of 2006 worldwide.