2009-05-26 10:31:36

ANGELS AND DEMONS: Rewriting History

Filed under: Faith,Film
Posted by: Craig

I took twenty students in my Theology and Film class to see Angels & Demons. Not because I necessarily expected to see a great movie. But because I knew it would be loaded with theological provocation. From cheap shots at the Catholic Church to enduring questions of science vs. religion, Angels and Demons preys upon our ignorance of history to craft a riveting thriller. The creative team from The DaVinci Code (director Ron Howard, screenwriter Akiva Goldsman, and star Tom Hanks) reunites for a much more satisfying movie (and much better hair for Hanks!). I encourage those who disagree with Dan Brown’s vision (whether scientists or clerics) to see Angels and Demons in order to respond with intelligence and insight. However, as with The DaVinci Code, the film ultimately proves to be so slight that any protest will prove to be much ado about nothing.

A few thoughts that emerged from seeing Angels and Demons.

1. Know Your History (lest someone else rewrite it).

Dan Brown’s best selling novels contain just enough truth in terms of locations and eras that an a-historical audience accepts it as fact rather than pot-boiling fiction. He incorporates Rome’s churches, Bernini’s sculptures, and CERN’s scientific research into a fast paced plot. Angels and Demons is predicated on our collective familiarity with (and ignorance of) the Illuminati, a society of scholars who challenged Catholic church dogma. But Brown holds quite loosely to the Illuminati’s historical time and place, manufacturing stories about church persecution (even unto death). The film places such episodes almost a hundred years before the Illuminati were even founded (in 1776). Angels and Demons could inspire people to dig deeper into their history, to discover the roots of their faith. But far too many viewers may accept Dan Brown’s sloppy rearrangement of facts to craft his fiction. Angels and Demons challenges us to learn our history lest a best selling author rearrange it.

2. It is tough to maintain privacy/secrecy/closed doors during an era of openness.

The private practices of the Roman Catholic Church provide a convenient canvas upon which to ascribe suspicious behavior. For example, the death of a Pope results in a closed door gathering of cardinals to election a successor. While church doctrine may consider the closing of Conclave doors as the locking out of evil, to the outside observer (and the movie) such behavior opens up a host of questions. What is going on behind those doors? What kinds of deals are being made?

The scientific tests conducted in Geneva’s CERN laboratory also offer an opportunity to exploit audience suspicions. A slight public panic developed with news experiments to split an atom via their supercollider. Researchers who would naturally want to hide their experimental findings are exploited as potentially dangerous.Perhaps the silliest sequence in Angels and Demons occurs within the Vatican library. While the precautions taken to protect church holdings seem reasonable, the movie turns it into an opportunity for Robert Langdon to harp on Catholic protectionism. The Church is described as cataloguing their assets “just like any corporation.” Their library keeps ancient documents regarding Galileo in chambers with reduced oxygen (to slow the aging process). Director Ron Howard actually creates a comic sequence around that lack of oxygen. When Robert Langdon is trapped within the library, a series of Rube Goldberg like interventions provide comic relief within the driving plot. Angels and Demons pounds away at Church measures taken to retain an air of privacy, mystery and continuity.

3. Filmmakers love the pomp and ceremony of Catholicism. So celebrate it!

A visual medium needs vivid locations and bright costumes to create a blockbuster. While Dan Brown may have serious anti-Catholic intentions, filmmakers gravitate toward Catholicism because of all the robes, rites and dramatic settings. So while the Vatican may feel attacked, they should also feel honored that their visual faith attracts the eyes of the world’s finest filmmakers.

Like The DaVinci Code, Angels and Demons will result in a new found fascination and boom for the Italian tourist trade. Numerous historic churches and sculptures are incorporated into the plot. The movie makes Rome look luscious even if the Vatican officially denied the right to film inside their walls. St. Peter’s square will experience a surge of visitors, arising from the film (even if they arrive out of curiousity rather than spiritual hunger). Why not embrace the opportunity to host so many movie fans?

4. Take it as intended: an airplane novel (and a popcorn movie)

Angels and Demons flies by as the light, disposable snack it is intended to be. It is a vast improvement from the turgid and preachy tones of The DaVinci Code. While Angels and Demons arrives as a cinematic sequel, the book was Dan Brown’s warm up, preceding the DaVinci phenomenon. As such, it contains less provocation. It also relies upon more obvious villains and duplicity. As the title suggests, those who appear angelic, may ultimately be revealed as demonic. No surprise there. But as a second film, it proves a much more satisfying thriller. It is not as preachy or self-important. It moves faster, with more visceral and even comedic kicks (Langdon refers to his books as a Harvard professor selling dozens of copies).

The filmmakers diverge most significantly from the novel in the final scenes. The novel attempted to undermine papal authority by making the Pope a proponent (and even practitioner of) artificial insemination. But Ron Howard and company drop Dan Brown’s subplot about the Pope’s illegitimate child. Instead, they try to bridge the gap between science and religion in a much gentler manner. Robert Langdon is told that he has been called to save the church and usher in the new Pope (through lifesaving heroism). The new pope chooses the name, Luke, after the gospel writer who also served as a doctor. The Angels and Demons movie offers an olive branch, a clever way to unite science and religion.

Angels and Demons doesn’t deserve to be protested. Instead, it can be viewed as what it is—a quick and disposable thriller set amidst the enduring Catholic Church.

Comments (3)

3 Comments »

1. I appreciate the distinctly PURPLE review in a sea of black and white battles over Dan Brown and his books… Educating us about what’s not real about it without requiring us to light our books on fire and throw them out the window. Eden insisted that I read both books while we traveled in Europe last summer. It was perfect and fun, weaving the real-live places with the entertaining fantasy playing out in my bedtime reading.

   You might also be interested that I have a great PURPLE/Village Square quote from Dan Brown:

   “What I’ve finally come to accept is that science and religion are partners. They’re simply two different languages attempting to tell the same story. Both are manifestations of man’s quest to understand the Divine. While science dwells on the answers, religion savors the questions. . . The world is a big place and now more than ever, there is enormous danger in believing we are infallible, that our version of the truth is absolute. That everyone who doesn’t think like we are is wrong, and therefore an enemy.”

   Comment by Liz — May 28, 2009 @ 2:20 am

2. Wow, that is an excellent quotation, Liz. Spot on.
   Even Dan Brown, an author who has benefited from controversy and polarization, demonstrates how even handed he can be….

   Comment by Craig — June 2, 2009 @ 11:12 pm

3. Craig,

   Nice review. I might actually be able to hang with this particular Brown movie now that Tom has a decent haircut.

   On another note, could you email me when you have a chance at jason(at)twoshirts(dot)org? Our little incipient missional group is cooking up a mini film fest here in San Diego this summer and we may be interested in screening PSM.

   Later,
   Jason Coker

   Comment by Jason Coker — June 3, 2009 @ 5:28 pm

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