I saw The DaVinci Code this weekend.  I read the book a few years ago and loved it – proceeded to read Angels & Demons right afterward.  I was raised Catholic (13 years of Catholic school – I used to be able to say all the books of the bible in order in under a minute…) but have fallen to the wayside over the years but keep an open mind about religions, so I found it very interesting.  The book appealed to the side of me that got engrossed in the X-Files and finds stories about paranormal activity, UFO’s and other freaky stuff infinitely interesting.

I’m no tinfoil hat-wearing conspiracy whackjob, but I do believe that there’s a lot more that happens between the people in power than we’d be comfortable with if we knew everything that goes on.  However, since we can’t even get food down to New Orleans after a hurricane, I’m not sure if governments are quite as good at keeping secrets as they used to.  Secret societies have a lot fewer people to answer to, so why couldn’t they keep a secret for a few hundred or thousand years?  Plus, considering the ineptitude of many government officials, I almost find it comforting that our fate just may be in the hands of a secret society which actually controls the governments of the world. 

Anyway – back to the movie.  It was good.  I liked it.  Will you like it?  Well, if you’re a strict catholic who finds the idea of a piece of fiction proposing some alternative theories on the development of the Catholic church to be repulsive, then you naturally won’t like it.  If you are a strict historian who finds the distortion of facts to serve a fictional story to be equally repulsive, then you won’t like it either.  And if you like your summer movies to be action-packed and quick-paced, then you won’t like it as well.

However, if you enjoyed the book and enjoy being presented with a challenging concept which requires to think, evaluate and make decisions, then it’ll appeal to you.  As long as you don’t require your movies to be edited like a music video, you’ll be fine.  A few long pieces of dialog slows the movie down, but if you could listen to people talk about this sort of stuff, then you’ll like the movie.  I also think that the movie leaves you with a much more faith-affirming and positive feeling than the book does.  Everyday Catholics should not be afraid of seeing this movie.

If you see the movie and read the book and still want more, may I offer a personal recommendation of Secrets of the Code by Dan Burstein?  Its fairly lengthy, but you can read it by looking up specific subjects or reading a chapter on a topic that you’re most interested in.