Educational Media Reviews Online

This DVD consists of two ROMEreports documentaries that aired in 2005, just before the release of the Da Vinci Code movie (The Da Vinci Code: A Masterful Deception and The Da Vinci Files). Both are somewhat disappointing. Their goal appears to be reassuring the faithful and providing some sound-bite responses, rather than providing a substantive antidote to the outlandish Da Vinci Code tales. They chose good people to interview—an art historian, a church historian, even a psychiatrist—but the tone is often one of general complaint and derision rather than rebuttal. Cardinal Arinze's calls for official protection, and repeated statements that the Catholic Church honors women because they venerate Mary, distracts from the case against Dan Brown. One speaker remarks that we have a generation or two of Catholics uneducated about their faith; the Da Vinci Code flourishes in this "catechetical vacuum." Given this perceptive analysis, one could wish that these documentaries rely less on dismissive remarks from authorities, and spend more time presenting the evidence.

The technical quality was fine, except that the restorer of The Last Supper didn't get subtitled. Other non-English speakers did, but in this case those of us who don't speak Italian didn't know what was being said. There are a few brief extras that accompany the documentaries, and on one of these (The Mystery of Saint Sulpice), the sound was very faint, but that's a minor quibble.

Recommended for Catholic institutions and any collections expecting interest in the Church's attitude toward The Da Vinci Code.