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Keeping the faith
The film adaptation of The Da Vinci Code is, I believe, being released in theatres today. I am excited. I look forward to watching a racy film, shot in the most artistically plush surroundings in the world. I also feel a pang of envy for Dan Brown, the writer, on whose eponymous book the film has been based. He has achieved fame or notoriety which has rivalled that of Jesus Christ.
The film adaptation of The Da Vinci Code is, I believe, being released in theatres today. I am excited. I look forward to watching a racy film, shot in the most artistically plush surroundings in the world. I also feel a pang of envy for Dan Brown, the writer, on whose eponymous book the film has been based. He has achieved fame or notoriety which has rivalled that of Jesus Christ. That is likely to last for just a few days, until the next religious ‘scandal’ surfaces, is reason enough to allow the writer his place in the sun with no fear that he can rival one, from the event of whose birth even time is recorded. The book was an interesting read, filled with nuggets of information and a peek into the world of whodunit suspense. It had a master plot that was as unbelievable as the earlier escapade of its main character Richard Langdon in Angels and Demons.
Christian faith is liberal enough to accommodate dissenting voices, even those accused of falsifying facts of history by propounding preposterous ideas that seem to gnaw at the heart of Faith. There is a difference between the formal organisation of the Church and the domain of Faith of the believing Christian. It is the duty of the Church to oppose all misrepresentations with academic, well-documented proof. In this way, organised peaceful protests against the film are justified, albeit a little too late since millions of copies of the print version of the story have already sent Dan Brown laughing all the way to the bank. On the other hand, it is unlikely that the faithful will be affected by a thriller based on symbols, messages, and exotic objects like holy grails and coded keys.
Christianity has survived two thousand years of turbulent history. The Da Vinci Code is another flash in the pan that will momentarily titillate the irreligious and naughty streak in me. Almost a generation earlier, I watched and sang along with Andrew Lloyd Weber’s musical, Jesus Christ: Superstar, while the world was appalled at reducing the story of Christ’s passion and death to a rock-music performance. The music was wonderful. The film, in portions was ludicrous, but JCS helped in a resurgence of faith despite its avowedly blasphemous title.
Christians in India survived The Last Temptation of Christ, a movie I did no see as I felt it trivialised the suffering of Christ on the cross by introducing a Freudian escape mechanism. Yet this movie, I am told, put Christ’s suffering into a more human perspective than even the Bible story did achieve. The Passion of the Christ on the other hand was filled with a brutality that was abhorrent. All these works, with varied degrees of artistic success have been presented to the world in an attempt to understand the enigma that was Christ’s life and mission. Dan Brown’s story is one more.
The unravelling of the Code begins in the protected vault containing the painting of the Mona Lisa in the Louvre. The controversy surrounding it will add one more speculation to the host of theories to explain her enigmatic smile. Does the Mona Lisa still smile down at the world for being taken for a ride by a skilful plot constructor? I don’t know. But, does anybody have an extra ticket for the show this evening?
