The Da Vinci Code

Salv said:

It seems that this particular discussion revolves around whether God and the Catholic church are one and the same thing.

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Not at all! My original question was...

I do not want this discussion to degerate or get the thread locked...

How about a quick yes or no question?

Does anyone think if the DaVinci Code were attacking the tenets of Islam or Judaism Tom Hanks or Ron Howard would have attached themselves to the project?

A yes or no will do before we proceed to the next part of this question.

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I wanted a simple yes or no answer. The gun was jumped and we got into a theological semantic discussion based on a badly written fictional work. How depressing is that?
More important is

Jack Scorpion said:

Seeing X3 at midnight of.

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Let us know what you think!

This place lit up faster than:

my Song of the South thread.

I'm no hypocrite. I go to Mass every Sunday. This book is fiction, Song of the South was fiction. Both movies I see are causing the same type of controversy. I think everyone should be able to see both films and come to their own conclusions. And yes, there should be NO disclaimer on either film. Let the chips and cards fall as they may. There is a line from the movie Song of Bernadette; "for the true believer, they need no explanation and for the non-believer no explanation will suffice".

What a boring, pointless thread this is.

MudInYerEye said:

What a boring, pointless thread this is.

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But it made you look.

A simple no

I don't think Hanks or Howard would have done the film if it was about Islam. Remember Salman Rushdie?

Ok...it's a movie. Why can't it just be entertaining? As for Hanks being willing to make the film were it about Islam or Judaism....I suspect he would be just as likely or more likely to do so. I say this because he is, I believe, an Orthodox Christian having converted when he married his wife (a Greek) and obviously had no problems working on a film dealing, to whatever degree, with his own faith. I also doubt very much that threats from Muslim whackos any more than threats from Christian whackos (that have undoubtedly been made given the current religious climate in America) would deter a director or actors from telling a good story. Frankly, if these threats were public and vocal, it would just mean more publicity and we all know that there's no such thing as bad publicity in Hollywood!

For example, yes I remember Salman Rushdie and I also remember that the book was completely obscure and would likely have faded into oblivion had the Ayatollah not opened his mouth. Now, even today, we are still talking about "The Satanic Verses" and people still read it because of the controversey. The same can be said of the film adaptation of Kazantzakis' novel "The Last Temptation of Christ". A great book but a mediocre movie that people STILL rent because they remember the outcry from the Christian whackos. Now, before I offend anyone, let me say that I am also a Christian (Greek Orthodox) and find nothing terribly offensive about any of the above titles. In fact, I found The Last Temptation philosophically interesting as it pertained directly to accepted Catholic and Eastern Orthodox doctrine...namely the dual nature of Christ (which, of course, also directly relates to the Davinci Code).

Honestly, the most religiously offensive thing to come out of Hollywood recently was "The Passion of the Christ"....not the movie itself or the much discussed gore and violence in it, but the fact that they merchandised the film! Selling "Passion of the Christ" souvenir nails was a bit much for me to take. But hey, I wasn't about to take to the streets over it...all in the name of profit I suppose. [huh]

Best,

John

Benny Holiday said:

I don't think Hanks or Howard would have done the film if it was about Islam. Remember Salman Rushdie?

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I agree with you there. Hollywood wouldn't have the guts to make a movie version of "Satanic Verses".

"burning in the fires of the Pit that is Bottomless".

Really, the vicar in my home town won't leave my parents alone about me ... At least that was the case about 5 years ago. Apparently i'm already "burning in the fires of the Pit that is Bottomless".

Whereabouts in New Jersey are you , Baron?

Re: Da Vinci code.....

Wouldn't it have been far more interesting just to make an action packed chase/adventure film of it?
Speed up the story, use some judicious editing, and make it "sigh" interesting?
I know its all hooey, but hey, so is Maltese Falcon, King Kong and
Raiders of The Lost Ark and I'd watch those movies again.

As a side note, did you know that Ron Howard originally wanted Russel Crowe and Sophie Marceau to play the leads? That would have made it a little more interesting. Apparently Mr. Crowe's displays of the ancient martial art of Telephone Fu left Mr. Howard a little dismayed at his suitability as a college professor!

Now this is nothing personal or political, but I just can't stand the sight of or sound of Tom Hanks. I don't know, but I find him to be very very irritating. Hell, I only watched Bosom Buddies for Donna Dixon.:eusa_clap Yet, he's supposed to be a leading man?

Agreed, to a point. I liked him in Catch Me If You Can ... that's it.

bk

I have a friend who is a theology teacher at a catholic high school. I asked her why the church was making such a big to-do about DVC, as it was generating more publicity than the film is worth. She said that there is a problem in that the book and now the movie, has shaken more than a few people's faith in the catholic church. She has had to go out to church groups and talk to catholics whose faith has been "tested" by DVC.

As for the church hiding something, it would seem to be that the DVC is what Wikipedia refers to as "pseudohistory." Rather intriguing, but... I read the book a year or so ago and found it a bit tedious -- I get tired of books (and movies) where there is a constant chase -- someone being followed or threatened or shot at every moment. This is probably the main reason why there was no character development in the movie.

Also, I knew what the big secret was about right away because I had read, almost a decade ago, Holy Blood, Holy Grail.

karol

PS -- My answer is no, they would not dare touch it. As someone pointed out earlier, if muslims got all that steamed up over a cartoon, what would they do with a movie?

I think Tom Hanks is todays Jimmy Stewart. I think he's great in everything he does because I don't realize it's Tom Hanks. He has the ability to "be" the character... in my eyes.

As to the big hoo-bub on this film, of which I haven't seen yet, I'm surprised people are so scared of it? I mean if a hollywood film can change your whole faith, then maybe you didn't have any faith in the first place.

I think what troubles the Catholic Church is the idea that something like the Davinci Code, a ficticious story, might potentially cause people to question their faith.
What the church should do to combat their dilemma is to question why fiction, this pseudohistory, has the power to cause some people to question their faith? Is it our society in general? Is it the intelligence of the parishioners? The powerful influence of ignorance or are we too susceptible to books or film?

I hope the bad reviews of the film does not cause Catholic leaders to rest on their laurels. Catholic bashing and the ignorance of the general population is something that needs some looking into.

I think I'll wait until this one comes out on DVD. The book was OKAY in my opinion, but I think Dan Brown is getting too much credit. All of this stuff was already out there in other works...
Maybe if I wait a few decades for the hype to cool off I can write my own little story out of it and make a truck-load of money.
It was interesting, but I was suprised how light it was. It was a 'snack' when I wanted a 'meal' but I suppose that's the way with all of these popular works these days, can't expect people to read War and Peace sized offerings.

Flitcraft said:

Really, the vicar in my home town won't leave my parents alone about me ... At least that was the case about 5 years ago. Apparently i'm already "burning in the fires of the Pit that is Bottomless".

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fftopic: Charming attitude, that. And these so-called followers of Christ wonder why people want nothing to do with their religion. I don't recall any passages of the Bible where Jesus told people such things; instead, people who were condemned by religious legalists like your hometown vicar - prostitutes, swindlers, adulterers, the disabled (who were considered cursed by God), and other social outcasts, all flocked to Him. He didn't write them off, but genuinely cared about them and made them feel that each one of them was special and valued by Him beyond words.

Code of the Road

IMHO:

1. As a film its not great, but its also not terrible. Gave it
a "C" Grade, had a good beat lol

2. Seems a lot of film reviewers just didn't like the
subject matter so that = a bad film????

SC

PS Gee at least it was better than King Kong they
could have given the Tom Hanks role to Jack Black :eusa_doh:

Solid Citizen said:

IMHO:

1. As a film its not great, but its also not terrible. Gave it
a "C" Grade, had a good beat lol

2. Seems a lot of film reviewers just didn't like the
subject matter so that = a bad film????

SC

PS Gee at least it was better than King Kong they
could have given the Tom Hanks role to Jack Black :eusa_doh:

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That's right; Jack Black another actor I find repulsive.lol

I watched it at home last nite.

Not a good film.

Could have been handled much better.

A dumb film.

B
T