DATE REVIEWED: 1/14/24
TITLE: The Da Vinci Code
BOX OFFICE RATED: PG-13 (This is not suitable for GOD’s children.)
PRODUCTION YEAR: 2006 Columbia Pictures / Sony Pictures / Imagine Entertainment / Skylark Productions / Government of Malta / Gaumont Columbia / Tristar Films
RATING [1 LEAST FAVORITE TO 5 HIGHLY RECOMMENDED]: 1 (There was a psycho self-mutilation assassin employed by the Catholic church. The rogue Catholic church Bishop Aringarosa and England’s Sir Leigh Teabing ordered killings of innocent victims and orchestrated witch hunts to find and destroy those connecting to the blood of Jesus).
REASON: This movie is based on the Dan Brown novel and it began in Paris at the Louvre with Catholic church hit man Silas chasing Jacques Saunière, the museum curator inside the dark building. Silas demanded to know where the Holy Grail was, and Saunière revealed that it was beneath the Rose Line in the Saint Sulpice church. Silas shot Saunière, who used his dying strength to write messages and symbols in his own blood. Meanwhile, Robert Langdon, a Harvard professor of religious symbology, gave a symbols seminar in Paris. He talked about the image of Madonna and child resembling Horus and Isis, how priests in Spain wore the Ku Klux Klan robes and how the Nazi swastika originated from ancient Asian statues. Robert signed books afterwards, and Lieutenant Gerome Collet from the DCPJ, the French FBI, showed Robert a photograph of Jacques Saunière’s deadly wounds that were believed to be self-inflicted. Robert confirmed that he and Saunière were supposed to have drinks together that day, but Saunière never showed up. Silas told his boss, who called himself the “Teacher,” on the phone about the Rose Line. Silas then followed his psychotic penitence ritual of chastising his body by stripping himself naked (bare buttocks on screen) and kneeling before a figurine of Jesus on the cross. Silas inflicted deed bloody wounds on himself using a metal cilice and a whip. The Teacher informed Catholic Bishop Aringarosa of the Opus Dei over the phone that Silas succeeded in obtaining the information from victim Jacques Saunière’s and added that the Grail was hidden beneath the Rose. Catholic Bishop Aringarosa promised to have the Teacher’s money ready in exchange for the Grail, and then Aringarosa called Sister Sandrine Bieil at the Saint Sulpice and arranged for her to show Silas the church that night. Robert met with Police Captain Bezu Fache at the Louvre, where Robert witnessed Saunière’s naked and scarred bloody body on the floor holding a sharp instrument in his hand. Robert identified Saunière’s pose as the Vitruvian man, a Leonardo da Vinci sketch, and the pentacle carved into Saunière’s chest was the symbol for Venus that represented the female half of things. Robert insisted that the symbol had nothing to do with worshiping the devil, and Fache showed Robert the blood writing on the floor mentioning the Draconian devil and lame saint. Fache agreed with Robert that Saunière would try to identify his killer before he died, so there must be a connection between the message and the murderer. Sophie Neveu, a cryptologist for the French police, then appeared and announced that the numbers featured in the message were a Fibonacci sequence. Sophie gave Robert a phone code with a prerecorded message and told him it was urgent and she insisted Robert go listen to it on the spot before answering any more questions of Fache’s. The message informed Robert that he was in great danger and to follow Sophie’s instructions and not tell Fache anything else. Robert dismissed himself and went to the restroom, where Sophie met up with him and in person informed him that a police agent slipped a GPS tracking dot into Robert’s jacket in case he tried to run. Sophie added that Fache wasn’t looking for any other suspects because he had planned to force a confession out of Robert that he was the killer. Sophie showed Robert a photo of the message and revealed that French police Captain Fache wiped clean the last line before Robert arrived. The P.S. said to find Robert Langdon, and Sophie believed that the P.S. stood for Princess Sophie and was an instruction from her grandfather Saunière to find Robert. Sophie promised to get Robert to the embassy so the French police couldn’t arrest him if he helped Sophie find out why Saunière wanted the two of them to meet. Fache was informed that police headquarters did not send Sophie to the Louvre, and then the GPS dot moved and the police followed thinking that Robert ran when he and Sophie threw the device out the window into the back of a truck to get the police to leave. Sophie explained that she and Saunière hadn’t been in contact for a while until that day, when he called her several times and said it was a matter of life and death but Sophie thought it was a trick and didn’t believe Saunière. Robert then realized that the devil message was an anagram for “Leonardo da Vinci. The Mona Lisa.” They followed the trail to the painting, where another blood message on the wall led the duo to da Vinci’s Madonna on the Rocks painting. They found the fleur-de-lis pendant that belonged to Saunière that he had planned to pass on to Sophie. Robert and Sophie then fled in Sophie’s car when the police caught on to their plan and returned to the Louvre. Robert asked Sophie if she remembered Saunière being involved in rituals or the Priory of Sion, an ancient organization that da Vinci and Isaac Newton led. The Priory’s symbol was the fleur-de-lis, and their mission was to protect the source of God’s power on Earth. In the next scene, evil hearted Silas prayed to Christ for strength and had flashbacks of when he rescued Aringarosa from men who were beating him up and accusing him of stealing from the church. Silas snapped out of it and then Sister Sandrine let Silas into the church per the Catholic Bishop’s request. After the nun left Silas dug up the Rose Line on the floor. However, all that he found was a rock with Job 38:11 printed on it. Sister Sandrine left Saunière multiple phone messages telling the already deceased man that the other three guardians were dead and Silas broke through the Rose Line. Silas then snuck up behind the nun and killed her because she was a member of the Priory. Afterward, the Catholic cutthroat Silas queerly prayed for God to receive the sister’s soul to heaven. The police discovered that Robert bought two train tickets to Brussels, but that was another trick because Sophie and Robert went to a park. Robert explained further that according to legend, the Knights Templar was the Priory’s military. The Knights invaded Jerusalem to find the Holy Grail, an artifact the church would kill to have, but they failed. The Knights then went to Rome, where the Pope granted them limitless power. However, when the Knights became too powerful the Pope burned most of them at the stake and called them Satan worshipers and heretics. The few Knights who survived kept looking for the Holy Grail. Robert and Sophie then realized that the fleur-de-lis was a key printed with a street address. Catholic Bishop Aringarosa met with the Catholic council and reminded them of the 20 million euro he requested in untraceable bearer bonds. Aringarosa announced that the Priory’s last members would be silenced and the Grail destroyed that night. Aringarosa told his Catholic council members that he believed (serial killer) Silas on the Catholic’s undocumented payroll was an angel and there could be no better soldier of God to help the Teacher. Robert and Sophie went to the address and used the key and the ten unscrambled numbers from the Fibonacci sequence to unlock Saunière’s safety deposit box. Inside was a keystone with a rose on it, and Robert was shocked because the rose was the symbol of the Grail. Inside the building, Andre Vernet then announced that the police were outside (because two prostitutes tipped them off that Robert and Sophie were in the French park and never went to Brussels) so he escorted the duo into the back of a truck to escape. Sophie admitted that she didn’t believe in God but she thought people could sometimes be kind, and Robert said he was raised a Catholic. Sophie opened the keystone and found a cryptex code that was invented by da Vinci. Sophie noticed that Robert was feeling claustrophobic, so she put her hands on his face and his anxiety went away. Sophie explained that Saunière raised her after her parents and brother died in a car crash when she was four. The truck then stopped and Andre held his gun on Robert and Sophie and demanded to have the keystone. Robert and Sophie were able to injure Andre and escape with the truck. Fache visited Andre in the hospital and told him to activate the homing device on his truck so Robert and Sophie could be trailed. Robert figured out that Saunière gave Sophie cryptex and puzzles when she was a child to prepare her to be a member of the Priory. They went to the Château Villette to see Sir Leigh Teabing, Robert’s English friend and a Grail historian. In order to get through the gate, Robert correctly answered trick questions. Leigh explained that the Priory still existed to that day on a global scale and its mission was to protect the Holy Grail, which is the church’s power on earth, and not God’s power on earth. He went on to say that three centuries after Jesus’ crucifixion, the Christians who had Jesus’ love and the Roman pagans with their multiple gods waged war on each other. The emperor Constantine was also a pagan, but he decided to unify Rome under Christianity as their one religion. English Leigh went on to say that Jesus was just a man and not the Son of God, and Robert argued and did not agree. Leigh then showed them da Vinci’s “The Last Supper,” which subtly featured the original hand symbols for male and female. Leigh pointed out that there was no cup on the table, so the Holy Grail was in fact Mary Magdalene seated at the right hand of Jesus. Leigh was convinced that Mary was Jesus’ wife and not a prostitute, and went on to say that Mary Magdalene’s true character was smeared by the Catholic Church in 591 AD (anno Domini, year of the Lord), and she was Jesus’ wife. Leigh read from the Gospel of Philip, which was rejected by the Council of Nicaea like other gospels that said Jesus was human and not divine. The gospel read that Jesus loved Mary Magdalene (his companion) more than all His disciples and He used to kiss her on the…Robert added that in those days, companion meant spouse. The Gospel of Mary Magdalene had Jesus telling his wife Mary, not disciple Peter, to continue His church. Leigh said that Mary, like her husband Jesus, both descended from kings. Sophie confirmed that the French word for Holy Grail was Sangreal from Arthurian legend, and if the word was separated it translated to “royal blood.” Leigh added that that chalice wasn’t a cup, but Mary’s womb that carried the royal bloodline of Jesus, meaning that Mary was with child as Jesus was crucified. To ensure the royal bloodline, Mary was escorted safely to France where she gave birth to a daughter named Sarah. Leigh and Robert mentioned the pagan book, The Witches’ Hammer (Malleus Maleficarium), which was published by the Catholics (and was one of the most blood-on-your-hands book in human history) and instructed the church officials to hunt down, torture and kill all freethinking women (Catholic churches have men only in high power positions). As a result of the witch-hunts, more than 50,000 women were burned at the stake. The Priory was the protector of the royal bloodline of Jesus Christ and Mary Magdalene. Leigh was then upset to learn that Robert and Sophie were on the news wanted for four murders (the real killers pinned the murders of Saunière, the Grand Master, and the other three Priory members, the sénéchaux, on Robert and Sophie). They showed Leigh the keystone that he was certain contained a map that would lead them to the Holy Grail. Madman Silas then appeared with his gun and told Leigh to put the keystone down, but Leigh struck Silas with his cane and then Sophie smashed Silas’s head into the floor to knock him out. Sophie grabbed the gun while Remy Jean, Leigh’s butler, restrained Silas. Leigh explained that Silas was a member of the Opus Dei (conservative Catholics connected to the Vatican) like Fache and he was wearing a cilice so he could suffer as Jesus did (Jesus was not a killer). When the group realized that the police were outside, they escaped into the woods in the England Leigh’s SUV vehicle with the now awake Silas bound and gagged. Leigh made a call and got his British plane ready to go to Zurich, and when Interpol got the call the officers argued about who was handling the case and raced to the airport. It was discussed how the people in the church who sought out and killed the descendants of Jesus Christ had been doing so forever and if they discovered that it was all a lie the Vatican faced a crisis of faith. Sophie confronted Silas about Saunière’s murder, and Silas replied that he was a messenger of God and Sophie was sinful and would be hunted by angels. Sophie corrected Saunière that God burned murderers and didn’t forgive them. Catholic Bishop Aringarosa told a council member that he planned to destroy the Holy Grail, the documents and the sarcophagus of Mary Magdalene so DNA testing would be impossible and there would be no way to prove the bloodline. Bishop Aringarosa added that since Jesus sacrificed his life to save humanity, the same should be true for Jesus’ descendants because the Catholic church planned on killing off Jesus people. Officer Fache wanted the getaway plane’s flight plan, so he attacked an airport worker to get it. Officer Fache told Lieutenant Collet that Catholic Bishop Aringarosa broke his vows to call Fache and tell him that Robert came to Catholic Bishop Aringarosa (lying clergyman) and confessed that he was the killer so now Captain Fache was dead set on arresting Robert. Leigh worked on finding the five-letter word to unlock the cryptex, and Robert popped the disk that was “beneath the Rose,” out of the keystone. Words were engraved backwards on the disk (Leonardo style), and Robert used a mirror to read the message. Since it spoke of a Knight’s funeral being presided over by a pope in London, the group headed to Temple Church, the only place in London where a Knights Templar would be buried. The police followed the plane to the London airport, where they confronted Leigh lied and he said he had a medical appointment to attend. The police searched the plane and found nothing, so they let Leigh and Remy go (because Robert and Sophie got off the plane after it landed and was still turning and they hid in the car). Leigh told Sophie that Robert had claustrophobia because he fell down a well when he was seven years old and wasn’t rescued for hours. The trio discovered that Temple Church was the wrong place because there were no tombs, and then Silas grabbed Sophie and held her at knifepoint (because he escaped out of his duct tape restraints in the car). Remy appeared and held his gun to Robert’s head, and as Silas put Leigh in the trunk Remy took the keystone and left without trying to stop Robert and Sophie from escaping. Remy told Silas that he was the Teacher and he didn’t want Silas’s help anymore. Remy delivered the keystone to the actual Teacher, who gave him the promised money and a drink, which was actually poison and it soon killed Remy. The Teacher, Leigh, then used Remy’s phone to call in the location of Robert and Sophie, the two murderers hiding at an Opus Dei house. Robert explained to Sophie that he figured out the knight in the riddle was Sir Isaac Newton, a Grand Master whose science work angered the Catholic church. It was Newton’s friend Alexander Pope (A. Pope) who presided over Newton’s funeral, not the Catholic pope. Robert and Sophie went to Newton’s tomb, where Sophie noticed footprints and cane marks on the floor proving that Leigh was there alone. Leigh then appeared behind them and informed Sophie that he was after her because she was the last guardian of the grail and the only one who could open the cryptex. Sophie wanted to know how Leigh knew what Saunière’s last words were, and Leigh confirmed that he was the mastermind behind the murders of Saunière and all the others. Leigh took Robert and Sophie hostage and told them that the living heir must be revealed and Jesus proven to be just a man and nobody miraculous. England’s Leigh explained that he made the Council of Shadows (Aringarosa’s Catholic council) believe he was an ally, and he insisted that they call him Teacher. Leigh wanted Robert and Sophie’s help to free mankind and expose the lies of the church, and Leigh told Sophie that she could put an end to the oppression and suffering of women, colored people and the poor. Leigh threatened to kill Robert if Sophie didn’t open the cryptex, and Sophie said she didn’t know how. Robert picked up the cryptex as if he was going to open it, but then he threw it and the bottle of vinegar inside the cryptex broke open and supposedly destroyed the scroll inside. The police appeared and arrested Leigh, who went into hysterics and screamed that Robert must have already solved the cryptex and removed the scroll. Robert told Leigh that the worthy would find the Grail. When the police showed up outside Silas’s house, he shot the police officers and then accidentally shot Catholic Bishop Aringarosa. The police shot Silas dead, but the crooked Catholic Bishop Aringarosa survived. Robert explained to Sophie that “apple,” was the code word to unlock the cryptex because that was the orb mentioned in the riddle that fell from the heavens and inspired Newton’s life’s work that outraged the church. Robert said the Grail went home, and he and Sophie followed the riddle to Rosslyn Chapel in Scotland. Robert told Sophie the joke Saunière made about him being a dumb policeman who did his job of history. Sophie replied that Saunière’s dad was a policeman and was the most honorable person Saunière knew. Sophie had déjà vu that she had been in that church when she was a little girl. Sophie and Robert noticed that the blade and chalice symbols were joined into the Star of David, and they went into a private church room filled with paintings and stars on the ceiling that represented the starry sky underneath which Mary Magdalene lay. The duo found the fleur-de-lis symbol on the floor, and they pulled the panel up from the floor and went down the secret stairway. Mary’s sarcophagus was gone and in its place was a potted rose, and Robert found scrolls dating back thousands of years to the time of Christ. Sophie explained that when she was a girl she searched Saunière’s library for records of her family’s death, but she found none and when Saunière caught her he made her promise to never look again. Saunière then sent Sophie off to boarding school, and when she came home one day without notice she witnessed Saunière and other people wearing metal masks standing around a naked man and woman on top of each other on a table. Sophie and Saunière hardly spoke again after that. Robert told Sophie that the news reported the entire family died in the car crash, but Sophie survived because Saunière snuck her away from the accident site and raised her as his own. Robert said Saunière wasn’t Sophie’s grandfather because her last name was Saint-Clair, a family descended from the Merovingian kings. The Priory hid Princess Sophie, the heir and the last living descendant of Jesus Christ, with the Grand Master to keep her safe. The Priory then appeared inside (Catholic collegiate church) Rosslyn Chapel (aka Collegiate Chapel of St. Matthew), and an old woman told Sophie that she was her grandmother and welcomed Sophie home. Sophie told Robert that there was no proof that Sophie was related to Mary Magdalene because Saunière took the secret of where Mary’s sarcophagus was to his grave. Robert said that when he was in the well he prayed to Jesus to help him stay alive to see his family again and Robert survived.Robert told Sophie all that mattered was what she believed and she could either help people find faith or lead them away from it. Robert left Sophie in Scotland and checked into a French hotel, where he nicked himself while he was shaving and the blood in the sink made a line symbol (bloodline). Robert went outside and walked the Rose Line to the Louvre. Robert noticed that everything in the riddle was there, with the two pyramids joined together in the blade and chalice symbol, the museum filled with the masters’ arts and possibly Mary Magdalene’s sarcophagus underneath the starry sky and the glass panels outside the Louvre. This movie had a budget of $125 million and grossed $760 million at the box office. The movie cover art listed, Ebert & Roeper, “Two thumbs up.” Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times, “involving and intriguing.” Richard Roeper, Ebert & Roeper, “a first rate thriller.”