catholicsphere

Yes, it’s “[tag]DaVinci Code[/tag] week”, which will culminate with its worldwide [tag]release[/tag] on Friday. Wednesday at the [tag]Cannes Film Festival[/tag], “the Code” was unveiled, although it was shown in [tag]Beijing[/tag], China hours before that. And, because of criticism in [tag]India[/tag], the film’s release has been delayed there, and in [tag]Bangkok[/tag] Thai censors want to cut 10 minutes from the film. Apparently churches were surprised when the book was translated into Malayalam, the language of Kerala, India.

For all it’s popularity and controversy (which apparently Ron Howard is trying to downplay or dismiss), the movie [tag]bombed[/tag] at Cannes. Review from the fairly respected Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times, trashes the plot of the book/film, while applauding the acting and cinematography. But some 900 journalists at the Cannes premiere laughed the film’s crucial reveleation: “You are the last living descendent of Jesus Christ.”

Despite the criticism, such may actually make the book’s bigger [tag]fans[/tag] move with greater urgency to see the film in order to push it to blockbuster status. No film these days, however, seems to have the staying power or achieve the “classic” status that movies of yesteryear did. Movies like Gone With The Wind, or Casablanca, or An Affair to Remember to name a few. And, I suspect it will be the same with The DaVinci Code.

The positive thing: this may be the light to illuminate the darkness.