Buy This DVD Now By Clicking On The Icon Below!
Buy This DVD Now By Clicking On The Icon
Below!
Title:
Beyond The Da Vinci Code
Region:
One
Genre:
Documentary
Feature
length: 90 minutes
Languages:
English Stereo Sound
Subtitles:
English Closed Captions
Packaging:
Amaray Keep Case
Chapter
Stops: 12
Sound:
Stereo Sound
Year
of DVD Release: 2005
Home
Video Distributor: New Video
MPAA
Rating: Not Rated
Reviewer:
Mark A. Rivera
In
the early spring of 2005 The History Channel aired the thought provoking
documentary “Beyond The Da Vinci Code” and 1.8 million viewers tuned in. Now
in anticipation of the release of Author Dan’s Brown’s sequel “The Solomon
Key,” this documentary is being released commercially on DVD for the first
time. Recently feature films have been exploring the nature of secret societies
and alternate histories for a while now. For the most part, the features have
been largely popcorn films or thrillers released around holiday or summer box
office season. Films like “The Skulls,” “Lara Croft – Tomb Raider,”
and “National Treasure” are just a small selection of the various Hollywood
examinations of elite power brokers, ritualistic practices, and buried treasure
hunters, but none of this is really all that new and few if any of these films
are based on any established facts. They are fiction just like the adventures of
Indiana Jones and Alan Quatermain before him. The late Mythologist Joseph
Campbell devoted a large part of his life into the scholarly study of various
cultural myths to find the unifying elements and in the process he found people
were too hung up on metaphor instead of trying to understand what the symbols
were trying to teach us about ourselves. In the 1990s “The Celestine
Prophecy” prompted an interest similar to though I think not quite as far
reaching as “The Da Vinci Code.”
The
controversy is whether or not Mary Magdalene and Jesus of Nazareth had a
romantic relationship. If so could there be descendents mixed in with the blood
of French Royalty that are truly divinely chosen or are the Gnostic texts and
others portions of scripture omitted from what is the contemporary Roman
Catholic Bible simply fiction? “Beyond The Da Vinci Code” will not give a
definitive answer because no one appears to know with any certainty. What the
documentary does quite compellingly is present reenactments of various crusades
and their consequences and then tries to offer possibilities as to why certain
chapters in European history occurred with interview clips featuring various
experts and scholars presenting their views on why certain legends could be true
or false. There is compelling evidence that Da Vinci’s work may reflect a
certain belief that is not openly recognized in the Roman Catholic Church, but
even if this is the case, there is no way of proving that even if Da Vinci held
beliefs regarding a possible romantic relationship between Jesus and Mary that
it was anymore than blind faith in that idea.
I
think the most important thing “Beyond The Da Vinci Code” gives the viewer
is the reminder that in the end “The Da Vinci Code,” which will be released
next year theatrically, is fiction and that the novel is not and should not be
taken as historical fact. In the end the only thing I could say with certainty
about “The Da Vinci Code” and “Beyond The Da Vinci Code” is that it is
entertainment plain and simple.
“Beyond
The Da Vinci Code” is presented in a letterboxed (1.78:1) aspect ratio and a
clear English Stereo Soundtrack and optional English Closed Captions for the
hearing impaired. There are no bonus materials. The menus are standard
interactive still frames that are easy to navigate. “Beyond The Da Vinci
Code” carries a suggested retail price of $19.95 and is available now at
retailers on and offline courtesy of The History Channel through New Video.
©
Copyright 2005 By Mark A. Rivera
All Rights Reserved.
Buy This DVD Now By Clicking On The Icon
Below!