If you have an interest in art, but aren’t crazy about it, this is the perfect movie for you. The Da Vinci Code is a mystery/thriller where Christianity is questioned and the murder of Jacques Saunière is trying to be solved. Sounds like a normal crime scene right? Wrong! The artistic aspect of the movie is that there are multiple clues left in paintings and artwork made by the one and only, Leonardo Da Vinci.
This movie makes it clear that it is based of art for the first hour which is amazing. In the first couple minutes of the movie, we witness a man running for his life;who we later find out is Jacques Saunière. After he dies, police officers invite Robert Langdon, a professor, to come examine his body. The first thing that is noticed is that the dead body has been left in the position of Da Vinci’s “Vitruvian Man.” I find this one of the most important part of the movie because it sets everything in place. This is where you realize this movie is a mystery and that the Vitruvian Man is the first clue. Seconds later,another clue comes to light. Professor Langdon realizes that the next clue has to do with the Mona Lisa. I didn’t really like this part of the movie because the actor goes on to say that the Mona Lisa’s horizon is lower on the left than the right. He goes on to say that, historically the Mona Lisa’s right side was supposed to be a female and the left side was male, or vice versa. I did not agree with this part because I do not know if that is accurate. Including this part in the movie would leave people who aren’t art experts confused or ignorantly saying wrong information based on the movie. The scene was so serious that I couldn’t even tell if it was fact or fiction. That also goes to show that the movie had good actors. The third clue was found in Da Vinci’s “Virgin of the Rocks”, which was simply a key. Although I don’t know if the Mona Lisa bit is accurate or not, I really enjoyed these three parts of the movie because it speaks loud and clear to why the director chose the title that he did. The movie and the novel is called The Da Vinci Code, because you have to decrypt Da Vinci’s art.
A much appreciated part of the movie was a number of almost hidden artifacts in the background of the movie. There are multiple example where you see art in the background, in a corner, or even right in front of you. Since the first couple minutes of the movie takes place in the Louvre, I felt as though the director was giving us a gift. The director was giving us a glimpse of what the famous Louvre would look if you were actually there. Other than that, The author goes out of his way by putting random famous painting in the background of the movie plenty of times. For example, when the third code was found, you could clearly see one of Da Vinci’s most famous paintings “The Last Supper” in the background. Another example is during the flashback they showed in the middle of the movie. In the flashback, you notice huge marble statues just like they would carve during the Roman Empire. And my favorite example is right after the flashback where piece of the “Mona Lisa” were scattered in the background. Her eye was on the table, her forehead was on the wall, and so on. The movie shows that art is in reality a mystery. The director is trying to show us that there is technically a story behind every piece of art.
If you are a huge art critic or Christian this movie might make you cringe. In the movie’s attempt to figure out if the Catholic Church is hiding something that they do not want the world to know, they make some comments that may be totally outrageous. When they were analyzing “The Last Supper”, they make comments such as that in the painting there is a female. They continue to say that the female is Jesus’s wife, Mary Magdalene. From what I was taught, “The Last Supper” consisted of a table full of males. Another analysis they make is that they go on “The Last Supper” is that there is not a cup next to Jesus. The cup is known to be the Holy Grail and they make the assumption that the Holy Grail is a person rather than an actual cup. When this analysis was made I thought it was fun and creative for the director to get the audience’s interest with crazy conspiracies, but I also thought from an art enthusiast point of view and thought that they might not like how the movie portrayed the very famous painting. Like I stated earlier, the director tries to show that there is a mystery behind all paintings, but the problem with this is that some paintings are simple and that is what makes them valuable. Not everything has to be a crazy conspiracy, although it is fun to think so.
All in all, The Da Vinci Code is a great movie. In my opinion, this movie is for people who like art or who like mystery. If not for the art in this movie, I feel as though this movie would not have been as famous as the movie was. Other than the crazy conspiracies and the questioning of Christianity, I feel like many people would like the twists that are included in this movie.
