On May 10th, a friend of mine who is a very well-known Catholic film critic, invited me to join him in seeing The Da Vinci Code. For nearly a week, I hesitated, for the same reasons that I did not read the book: I wanted nothing to do with something widely reputed to be blasphemous.
Watching the Deconstruction of the Faith
Early this week, I began to receive numerous phone calls from my fellow Catholics wanting to know what could be done to combat the film — begging me to do something to defend our Lord and our Faith. After prayer, I decided that my friend’s offer was in fact an opportunity to review the film and critique it early on as a Catholic lawyer. Being able to see the film without any risk of financially supporting it or inducing others to go and see it were primary concerns. With those worries allayed, I saw the film on May 17th.
At the screening, many of the critics were giddy with excitement at the prospect of seeing the film. No time was wasted assailing the Catholic Church with open ridicule even before the lights went down. That was the atmosphere of the evening.
As the theater went dark, we were treated to the soaring score of Hans Zimmer, one of the best composers in Hollywood. On screen, an elderly man is seen running through the Grande Gallerie of the Louvre, trying in vain to escape the menacing monk stalking him — a man so pale in the face that death precedes his every step. The monk, as repeatedly advertised in previews, proceeds to murder his helpless victim in cold blood. That is how the film begins. This combination of intense action with a particularly striking score continues, scene upon scene.
At the end of 2½ hours, the lights came back on, and the reality settled into me: Never in the history of filmmaking has the memory of our Lord Jesus Christ and the faith of all Christians been so explicitly targeted, insulted and mocked on such a scale.
At the beginning of the movie, Opus Dei, a legitimate group personally endorsed by Pope John Paul II, is depicted in its senior bishop, members, and concerns as being sinister to the highest degree. Every element of traditional Catholic piety, from kneeling in prayer before the Crucifix to reciting prayers in Latin, is depicted as going hand and hand with murder. Every time an Opus Dei residence is shown, it is associated with the harboring of felons and with participation in geopolitical conspiracies. In sum, the legitimately approved and publicly reputable association of Opus Dei is disparaged in name and substance. In the film, the goals of Opus Dei are securing the domination of the world and eliminating anyone deemed expendable. And anyone who threatens to reveal historical truth is deemed expendable.
Tom Hanks’ character, Robert Langdon, halfway into the film, proffers the most offensive line of all, concluding that it is an “insult” to history and the memory of Mary Magdalene to worship Jesus Christ as God. Why? Because it was Mary Magdalene who was “originally” designated by Christ to lead the Church and His Faith. One cannot speak more injuriously against Christ nor spew more shameless bigotry.
As the film continues rolling, the Catholic Church is portrayed as being responsible for the greatest evils of history, including racism, the subjugation of women, and the oppression of mankind across the board. Every one of the most glorious achievements of the Catholic Church throughout history is deconstructed, reassembled in a revisionist manner, and then thoroughly reviled as being just one more fraudulent inducement on the part of the “Vatican” and the “popes” to deceive mankind:
• the worship of Christ as God was a “minority belief” amongst the first Christians, who by the way became responsible for civil unrest tearing apart the Empire under Constantine;
• the New Testament was assembled upon the command of Constantine from a assortment of 800 different texts of spurious origin, chosen in the end to cover up historical truth and oppress women;
• the Crusades’ true goal was executing the order of the pope to seek out and destroy the tomb of St. Mary Magdalene, the “true” founder of the Church;
• the wholesale annihilation of the Knights Templar was personally ordered by the popes of the fourteenth century;
• the Inquisition, by design of the popes, purposely oppressed millions of men and women across hundreds of years in order to maintain totalitarian and fascist mind-control over the faithful;
• the worship of the “One True God” is presented by the producers being the source and cause of human violence across history;
• and last, but not least, the Vatican is shamelessly depicted as having, from the beginning, falsified the historical record and fraudulently — and forcibly — induced mankind into belief that Christ is God.
Why a Christian Must Absolutely Avoid This Movie
Apart from lie upon lie being forced upon the viewer, the weaving of the yarn by Brown and the producers of the movie is not only preposterous, not only dangerous to the average Christian, it constitutes psychological propaganda worthy of the name of Goebbels.
The Da Vinci Code is the most offensive and blasphemous anti-Christian — and especially anti-Catholic — move ever made. My friend the critic, who sees an average of 300 films a year, looking back over his repertoire of film history, confirmed that Stigmata, Priest, and Dogma were child’s play compared to this film. As Christians, we are held to be the “salt of the earth,” not the pocketbook financially enriching the Devil’s cohorts.
Christians are bound by a sacred duty in Faith not to publicly support, either morally in taking enjoyment in, or financially in purchasing box office tickets for, a film which manifestly offends Christ, His Church, and the True Faith. That is exactly what the Da Vinci Code’s producers have set out to do. That is exactly what the movie does.
According to interviews given by the screenwriter Akiva Goldsman and the producer Brian Grazer, “no outside research” was conducted in production of the movie; “the ‘truth’ in books was never of any interest” to the makers of the film (L.A. Times 5-16-2006). As such, despite the movie encouraging viewers to “Seek the truth” and therefore see the movie, “truth” was never a measure, a criterion, a motive or a consideration of those who have made The Da Vinci Code. On the other hand, calumny, offense, insulting and brazen bigotry are gleefully heaped upon Christ, the popes, and the Church across history. And people call that “entertainment”?
Conceptually, the capacity of the average Catholic to distinguish fact from the fiction of history depicted in the film is so blurred that only those prepared in advance with solid training in ecclesiastical history and theology are capable of rebutting doubts about one’s Faith which will certainly arise in any Christian viewer’s honest conscience as a result of watching this movie. Most Christians are not prepared to walk into this movie with the armor of Faith and authentic knowledge of history required to protect one’s integrity and belief in Christ as the One True God and in the Church as the divinely-ordained institution which she is, unto the salvation of all mankind. The combination of cinematic effect and stirring music is destined to bypass critical thinking and sow the seeds of doubt deep into the soul.
Morally, and in all honesty, a Catholic cannot on the one hand fulfill his duty to avoid public support of blasphemy against Christ and the saints, heresy against the Faith, and contempt for the papacy, and simultaneously enjoy “only” the “good telling of a story.” Who are Christians trying to fool in raising this pseudo-distinction? There is nothing more precious than our Faith, nothing more precious than the Truth which sets all of us free: A thin red line nominally separating enjoyment of the “story” to genuine enjoyment of blasphemy and the insulting revisionism of ecclesiastical history is all too easily crossed over in this film. It is the Devil who is tendering the invitation to “go see the movie so I can answer objections” raised in the film. I cannot begin to emphasize how dangerous I personally feel this film is to Christians who willfully place themselves in spiritual harm’s way by watching this movie. It’s not worth it — nothing is worth risking one’s soul and eternal salvation — not a good book, not a good movie, not a good actor.
Prepare Yourself and Save Others
You have a moral obligation to prepare yourself to answer objections and address concerns by co-workers or friends troubled by the premises of the movie — it is a spiritual work of mercy to do so. And there is a way to do it that does not place your faith in jeopardy, does not scandalize others who might see you attending the film and does not give a single dollar of Christ’s money — everything we have belongs to Him — to His enemies.
To combat the sensationalistic false claims about Christ and the Church made by The DaVinci Code Ascension Press and Catholic Exchange offer The Da Vinci Deception, written by Mark Shea and Dr. Ted Sri. This book uses the same question-and-answer format of their million-selling book, A Guide to the Passion. It is well-researched without being overly technical or academic. It is solidly Catholic but written in such a way that its appeal is broadly Christian. And it is very inexpensive.
St. Peter, our first pope, told us: “Always be prepared to make a defense to anyone who calls you to account for the hope that is in you, yet do it with gentleness and reverence” (1 Pt 3:15). If ever a defense was needed, it is now, when our Mother, the Church, has been accused of 2000 years of lying, murdering and fostering every evil on the planet.
The Da Vinci Deception examines the accusations Dan Brown made against Christianity and the Church, and which have now been brought to the big screen in this virulent piece of propaganda. It does not take a person with a Ph.D. in theology to understand the truth about the Catholic Church, and neither does it take a professional speaker to make an effective defense of our faith. What it takes is a profound love for God, the Church, and the truth — coupled with preparation and prayer.
What can you accomplish with The Da Vinci Deception?
You can make sure that your family and friends are armed with this book; give a few — or many — away. Volume pricing makes this easy. Make sure your parish has a good quantity on hand. Contribute several copies to your local library.
You can address questions with a discussion group. Everything you need to advertise, plan and run a four-week discussion class on The Da Vinci Deception is available for free download from www.davinciantidote.com. You do not need to be an experienced group leader. Everything is outlined for you.
See to it that the teens in your parish are equipped with this book. If you are involved with youth ministry — even if you just have a teen — check www.davinciantidote.com for material especially designed for youths and even for college-age participants.
If your parish cannot provide a place for your discussion group, there is nothing wrong with holding it in your home. Gather some interested people together and use the free materials to discuss The Da Vinci Deception. Or gather with some co-workers during lunch and go through it.
This movie is a bold attack; it requires a bold response to help those who really do want to seek the truth.
© Copyright 2006 Catholic Exchange
Marc Balestrieri is a canon lawyer and graduate of the Gregorian University of Rome. He is the founder of DE FIDE, a non-profit group that specializes in the use of Canon Law to combat heresy and grave crimes within the Church. To learn more, visit www.defide.com.
