This Time, Church Won't Demonize Film

[BlueJessamine]

Source: Washington Post

By Rebecca Kelley and Francis X. Rocca
Religion News Service

It worked with Ron Howard's first film adaptation of a Dan Brown novel, 2006's "The Da Vinci Code," and Hollywood is hoping it will work again for their second collaboration, "Angels and Demons," which opened nationwide yesterday.

Howard recently stoked the fires with a terse op-ed in the Huffington Post, responding to calls for a boycott of the film by Catholic League President Bill Donohue.

"Let me be clear: neither I nor 'Angels & Demons' are anti-Catholic," Howard wrote. "And let me be a little controversial: I believe Catholics, including most in the hierarchy of the Church, will enjoy the movie for what it is: an exciting mystery, set in the awe-inspiring beauty of Rome."

Maybe, maybe not. But either way, in Round 2 of the battles with Brown, many church leaders are taking a new approach by trying to ignore the film, hoping that the less attention they give it, the quicker it will go away.



Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/15/AR2009051503158.html?hpid=sec-religion

[high density]

1. All signs say this is a turd of a film

It will crash and burn easily without any external help.

[rusty charly]

2. Too late:

"The storyline for Angels & Demons, which stars Tom Hanks and Ewan McGregor, centres on a plot by the Illuminati, a secret society of intellectuals, who are intent on gaining revenge for a brutal massacre of their predecessors by the Church centuries ago. Although the society once existed, there is no historical evidence that its members were butchered by Catholics.

http://tinyurl.com/cgeorz

The Rt Rev Malcolm McMahon, the Bishop of Nottingham, warned that the film could stir up anti-Catholic sentiment.

"This is so outlandish, it's total rubbish," said Bishop McMahon, who is one of the Church's most senior bishops. "It's mischievous to stir up this kind of anti-Catholic sentiment. It's a gratuitous knocking of the Church and I can't see any reason for it."

Howard, the director of Angels & Demons – expected to become the first blockbuster film of the summer when it is released in Britain this month – has fired back that Catholics will enjoy the movie, which is based on a previous novel by The Da Vinci Code's author, Dan Brown.

His comments will intensify a feud between some prominent Catholic leaders and the Da Vinci Code team over claims that the film smears the Church."

[dflprincess]

7. Per the Catholic News Service:

http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/0902086.htm

ROME (CNS) -- The newly premiered movie "Angels and Demons" is little more than "harmless entertainment," with many factual errors and little cultural value, according to the Vatican newspaper.

Two dispassionate articles in L'Osservatore Romano May 7 may disappoint the film's promoters, who had sought a conflict with the Vatican of the type that surrounded "The Da Vinci Code" in 2006. Both films are based on books by author Dan Brown.


An editorial in the paper called both the film and the book "modest" and "rather innocuous." An accompanying review said that viewers "must face two hours of harmless entertainment that has little to do with the genius and mystery of Christianity, without getting beyond the usual stereotypes."

The review said the film was "pretentious" but actually complimented the "dynamic direction" and "splendid photography," and said the computer and studio reconstructions of the Vatican, Sistine Chapel and St. Peter's Basilica, which were off limits to filming, were "magnificent."

L’Osservatore Romano, the Vatican newspaper, "has found nothing worthy of rebuke"

I saw the movie today and enjoyed it. Certainly not the greatest film ever made, but okay.

[and-justice-for-all]

3. Fun fiction, in all aspects...nt

[pattmarty]

4. Love the campaign sign, we can only hope..........

[Twinguard]

9. exactly

[Sandrine for you]

5. LOL the replied of the Opus...

"The truth is, I don't think 'The Da Vinci Code' or 'Angels and Demons' is going to do much harm to Christianity," Wauck said. "The real impact has been on tourism. Dan Brown has brought a lot of people to Rome and they come looking for that mixture of history and mystery and religion and art and beauty that I really think is the reason why those books sell."

[Ian David]

6. If Pope Ratso doesn't condemn the film, it must really suck. n/t

[zoff]

8. I don't know

if it was Dan Brown's intent to demonize the catholic faith by writing his books. You cannot blame hollywood for using his books for their films. They are excellent works of fiction.

The faith is strong in me and I took no offence to either books or movies. Just like Cheneys after-the-fact tour, perhaps the church is worried about the attrition of catholics from their rosters. Not that there is much evidence to support that. The weak attendance at local churches is more than offset by the droves of people in latin america and one particular country in Asia that flock to catholicism.

[and-justice-for-all]

10. Star Trek OWNS!!!

Angels and Demons will do ok, but Star Trek kicks its ass all over the place..Then there is Wolverine to beat it up some more and not to mention the Terminator flick that comes out in a couple of weeks.....Angels and Demons picked the wrong month to release.