A Man's Oil

The Da Vinci Code is a novel I first laid eyes on at a bookshop. I read the sypnosis and thought, hmm...this book sounds like a page-turner, and I was right, I read it within a day or so and was delighted at how sacrileges it turned out to be. Then I passed it to a colleague and she read it and her beliefs were shaken somewhat. It left her with the question of whether the novel was true as stated in the disclaimer at the beginning. I told her than anything is possible when it comes to religion.

The book, however, is FICTION, the locations and churches are all real, perhaps Dan Brown should have revised his little disclaimer at the beginning of the book. Everything was interwoven into an beautiful and seamless tapestry that contains controversies which the Catholic Church vehemently denies. Jesus married Mary Magdalena and had a child. Their bloodline carries on till today with his living heir hidden amongst secret societies or in plain sight. The more vehemently you deny something, the more truth there is to it. Why couldn't Jesus have married? He was a man. He was mortal and I'm sure he grew to love someone before they turned him into a Messiah.

The movie on the other hand was made probably to appease all the fans of the novel. It gave us what the Special Illustrated Edition of the book did not, more inside scoop on the location shoots, for all those who go on vacation and hunt down these places.

I found the movie lacking in many details, it barely left me at the edge of my seat. It felt more like the less exciting version of the reality TV series The Amazing Race than anything else - solve a puzzle, move on to the next one, a treasure hunt if you will.

Tom Hanks is getting old and looking older with that comb-back hairdo. His pairing with Audrey Tautou seemed wrong as it lacked any excitement or chemistry whatsoever. She just followed through and played along as supporting actress. Sir Ian McKellen managed to bring out Sir Leigh Teabing's character rather well I must say. I guess it takes a knight to play a knight. Jean Reno always plays a French cop, I can't remember which movie I haven't seen him in (other than The Professional) where he doesn't play a French cop. Paul Bettany's rear-end never looked so good. The last time I saw it was in the movie A Knight's Tale starring Heath Ledger. Is Mr Jennifer Connolly always flashing his rear-ends for the for the cameras? Even Paul's cilice tightening and self-flagellation scenes left me wondering how fun and painful S&M can really get in a controlled environment!

They made fun of the French's incompetence (as they always do in all American movies, think The Bourne Identity). They even echoed the sentiments most French people have about the glass pyramid at the Louvre - A scar on the face of Paris.

The negative reactions by the Catholic Church towards the release of the movie lends far more toward legitimising the plot of the movie than the film itself. The more you try to prevent people from watching it, the more they want to watch it to see what so controversial about it.

Someone asked the question, what do you think Leonardo da Vinci would do or say to all his works being used like that were he still alive? I believe the answer to that question is: He'll be collecting all the royalties off every painting that were featured in the movie, making him a bloody rich man!

P/S: The title of this review A Man's Oil is an anagram for... you guessed it Mona Lisa.

8.5 out of 10 for the novel

7 out of 10 for the movie