And that’s what we have on our hands. A movie that probably from all reviews doesn’t deserve all the publicity is getting headlines for free courtesy of some no doubt well-meaning folks and the Catholic Church protesting its very existence.
What is being protested is of course of the movie starring Tom Hanks (remember him in Bosom Buddies?) in the movie version of the book the Da Vinci Code. I find it kind of interesting that we even had our own little protest in front of the Gateway Theaters in Edwardsville.
The rosary was recited and signs that read “I love the Lord Jesus Christ. I reject ‘The Da Vinci Code,’†and “‘The Da Vinci Code’ ridicules Christ and his church. Stop blasphemy†were held up in front of the same theater that is currently showing Mission Impossible III starring Tom Cruise who is arguably a bigger threat to the Catholic Church than The Da Vinci code with his professed love for the wacky scientology faith. But I digress. I do that a lot.
The interesting thing to me is that there was never a peep of protest while the book The Da Vinci code became a worldwide bestseller with more than 60.5 million copies in print (as of May 2006) and was  translated into 44 languages. I guess books don’t count as much as films. That’s why they made that book, the bible into so many movies so the great unwashed could get it too, right? Where were the pickets in front of Borders when the book was flying out those doors?
If you read the book you know one of the principal revelations is that in the Da Vinci Painting of the last supper the person next to Jesus is a female and is supposed to be Mary Magdalen. It’s a pretty neat revelation to me since I have seen that painting all my life but never noticed that. Now at flea markets and house sales around this area when there is a copy of it on display the conversation always surrounds that little tidbit. The rest of the story is that Mary and Jesus were man and wife and had a son but you can’t tell that from the painting.
In India they really have taken the protests to the highest level.
A Roman Catholic organization-The Secular Forum, has suggested a fast unto death as a demonstration of how much their feelings have been hurt. A death fast to protest a movie.
A fluorescent billboard that we are gaining speed on that slippery  slope to the warm place.
