"The mind sees what it wants to see"

This quote, or at least the gist of it, is taken from the movie The Da Vinci Code, which is based on the book of the same name written by Dan Brown. And while the book itself is stated both by Brown and movie director Ron Howard (as well as Tom Hanks, who stars in the movie) to be a fictitious book, it has generated media coverage and controversy. The basic synopsis is this: A cryptologist working in France is notified that someone he was supposed to meet with had died. What follows is a Sherlock Holmesian type story where this cryptologist and his companion, who he meets at the scene of the crime, try to figure out who killed this man and why. The movie itself does not offer much in the way of action but that is because it is not an action movie.

The book remained on the top 10 list for over 2 years (not always number 1, though). The following discussion will reveal details about the plot of the book/movie so if you haven't seen it but plan to and don't want it ruined you can stop reading here.

NOTE: While I found this movie rather interesting it does not mean that my beliefs coincide with that of the movie or book. These ideas are solely those introduced by the book/movie and are not necessarily shared by me.

SPOILERS ABOUT THE DA VINCI CODE

Synopsis:

Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks), is contacted by the French version of the FBI and notified of a murder of someone he was supposed to meet that day. This murder happened in the Louvre (The famous art museum in Paris, France). There, he meets a member of the Parisian police force (Sophie Neveu) who tells him that he (Langdon) is being framed for the murder because the person who was murdered named him in some cryptic writings he left on the floor where his body lay. Langdon also finds out that this officer who saved his life (she got him out of the building and into hiding), was raised from childhood by this murdered man (who Sophie tells Langdon it is her grandfather) after her family was killed in a car accident. What follows is an adventure where Langdon and Neveu evade police while trying to figure out why Neveu's grandfather died by following all the clues he left behind. In doing so they are introduced to a conspiracy that dates back some two thousand years ago to the times of Jesus and before, centering much of the controversy around Leonardo Da Vinci's painting of the Last Supper. There was a scene during the movie where most of the interesting ideas/concepts the movie/book suggested were revealed:

Jesus was married and had a child. This point obviously has huge ramifications. The supposed wife was Mary Magdalene, who was charged by Jesus to start the church and not Peter. However, at the time that the gospels were written it was determined that Jesus' bloodline must be preserved and thus, made secret. Thus, Mary went into hiding and was never heard from again. The starting of the church was said to have begun with Peter.

The Holy Grail was not a chalice. In fact, the book/movie stated that though there was apparently mention of the Grail's appearance at the Last Supper, there is no chalice present at the table (I never understood how they would make interpretations assuming the Painting was accurate). In fact, the Holy Grail itself was woman, or more specifically, Mary Magdalene. She was supposedly made out to be known as the prostitute in order to decry her importance. And so, throughout history, the bloodline of Mary was protected and her sarcophagus hidden away. In the middle ages, there came a massive search for the Grail and an order of Knights known as the Templars was charged with guarding the sargophagus and its location. Thus, the location of the Grail was actually the location of Mary's sarcophagus.
Since Mary and Jesus' bloodline was to be protected throughout history there is the implication that a direct descendent of Jesus (flashback to Dogma perhaps?) walks the earth today. In the movie it is discovered that Sophie Neveu is actually the last living descendent of Jesus.

Symbology in Da Vinci. Symbology plays an important role in the movie. Being a cryptologist, Langdon carries a vast knowledge of historical symbols (from the swastika to the 3 pronged pitchfork). The most prominent one emphasized in the book is that of Man and Woman and their Union. The ancient symbol for man was the "blade" or "phallus" characterized by to lines slanted leaning towards each other like this /\. The other symbol, the one for Woman, was its polar opposite with the two slanted lines leaning away from each other like this \/. This symbolized the womb but also a chalice. The movie makes note of how in the painting (The Last Supper), Mary is supposedly the one sitting to Jesus' right (to us she's left of him). The space between them forms a V (following the line from her left shoulder to his right), which apparently is meant to be taken as Da Vinci's symbolism in the painting to imply that the Grail is there (Mary?).
Another interesting reference they make was to the Star of David. When each of the symbols for Man and Woman are closed, they form a triangle, each the horizontal mirror of the other. When they are laid on top of one another, the resulting image is the Star of David: six pointed star with a hexagon in the middle. The apparently implication here is to symbolize the union of the two sexes.

The entire plot of the movie turned out to be a quest to find out the final (current) resting place of Mary Magdalene's sarcophagus.

As stated above, the movie did not necessarily reflect my beliefs. It was a good movie and I thought Ron Howard did a good job of directing it. Tom Hanks and Sir Ian McKellen (sp?) also did fine jobs of acting as well. As for my thoughts on the ideas introduced in the book/film, they are pretty much summed up in the title of this blog entry.

If you saw the movie or read the book what did you think of it? If you haven't read or seen it but still have some thoughts you'd like to share go ahead and comment. NOTE: I will monitor comments and remove any that I believe are troll-based.