Angels and Demons
by John on May.18, 2009, under Books & Movies
Angels and Demons – Official Trailer
Ok – I’ve read the book and seen the movie. I’ve also read and seen the Da Vinci Code. Like many of you I read the Da Vinci Code before A&D. I have no intention in making a full review. However, I do want to make a couple of points. First, Dan Brown knows how to write a page turning novel. I know that there is a lot of controversy surrounding Brown’s novels; many of his opinions, presented as factual history, I clearly disagree with. However, if you are familiar with Brown you’ve got to agree that he is an accomplished craftsman. Having said that, there were a couple points in the book and movie that dragged for me; for example Robert Langdon spends a lot of time in monologue. Langdon expends a lot of energy explaining the clues – catching the audience up on the unknown facts of an obscure cult called the Illuminati. I caught myself feeling like I was watching a movie in the same genre as National Treasure. In addition, the movie didn’t include some of the more interesting points in the book. Like Langdon’s under water fight with the assassin and the kidnapping of Vittoria. Langdon’s final battle with the assassin was also a highlight that the movie omitted.
From a faith perspective I thought that the movie did two things:
1. It challenged believers to study history. If you don’t know the history of the Catholic Church this is not the movie to learn it from, however, it serves as a catalysts to read, study and learn Catholic history in particular.
2. The movie ended with an open door to the possibility of the God factor in everyone’s life – even to those who feel like they have no faith
Let me wrap this up by stating that established believers do not need to avoid the Dan Brown books or movies. I encourage believers to engage the pop culture. Make it your ambition to learn what is influencing the masses and then be ready to share your personal faith.
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May 29th, 2009 on 2:50 PM
I read ‘The Da Vinci Code’ before the movie came out so I could be knowledgeable in case the topic came up. (I didn’t watch the movie.)
Unfortunately, I learned a hard lesson: people have no interest in learning what is true or false. No matter how much information I gave, they still chose to believe the book – even while insisting they did NOT believe it. One moment they would say, “I know it’s just a story.” The next minute it was, “We don’t REALLY know what’s true or not, so maybe it MIGHT be true.” It was the strangest example of cognitive dissonance I have ever seen.
I’m attempting to read ‘A & D’ but I’m not very motivated. People seem to not only have no desire to distinguish facts from fiction, but they seem to have no ABILITY to do so.
It’s all part of the ‘You have your truth and I have mine.’ mentality we have in our culture. Regardless of the topic, if people choose to believe something, to them it’s true and no amount of facts that say otherwise will sway them.
May 27th, 2009 on 10:31 AM
Hi Marylin,
Check out this book Catholic Chicago the Evolution of an American Identity 1830-1930.
This is a history of Catholicism as it relates to Chicago specifically but will also give you insights to Catholic History in general. Let me know what you think! The author is Charles Shannabruch of Notre Dame. You might also want to try, Ethnic Chicago: A Multicultural Portrait
May 25th, 2009 on 10:32 PM
Any books or movies you do recommend to better learning factual Catholic Church history?