By Sister Rose Pacatte, FSP

When director Ron Howard’s new film “Angels & Demons” marches into theaters today some people may be expecting the same controversy that accompanied his 2006 film “The Da Vinci Code.” Alas, I am sorry to be a killjoy but audiences just may be inspired instead. I know I was.

The Story
In “Angels & Demons” (based on Dan Brown’s 2000 novel that actually preceded “The Da Vinci Code”) Dr. Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks), a Harvard University “symbologist,” is back at Harvard, working out in the pool early one morning when a Vatican official approaches him with a paper. One word is printed on it in gothic type: Illuminati. The official explains that the Vatican has received threats from this secret society, thought to be long extinct. The official wants Langdon to accompany him to the Vatican to help interpret the symbols and clues left by the Illuminati. Meanwhile, another Illuminati threat appears. A canister with a particle of extremely volatile “anti-matter” has been stolen and stashed somewhere in the Vatican, and set to explode.

Critique
“Angels & Demons” is a very different film from The Da Vinci Code. It takes place in the Vatican and Rome with a side trip to Switzerland. The movie was filmed on a set that was constructed not far from Sony Studios in Culver City, Calif., where I live. The Vatican and the City of Rome refused most requests to film there apparently because of the fall-out from “The Da Vinci Code” and the cautions circulating about this film. The Catholic Church of “Angels & Demons” is very male. No mention is made of the “divine feminine” and other points that caused so much doctrinal distress in “The Da Vinci Code.” In fact, God is hardly mentioned in “Angels & Demons.” The film is very violent, however, despite the PG-13 rating. The pageantry in the film contrasts with the good guys chasing those who seem to be many bad guys – and therein lies the plot. Things are not what they seem.

One of the major plot points in the film is the relationship between the Catholic Church and science. According to the film, the Illuminati began as a secret society that resisted the Church’s persecution of scientists beginning with Galileo (1564-1642) and now they are emerging again because of scientific developments that interest the Church. (In actuality, a group calling itself Illuminati were formed in Germany in the 1700s and lasted for about ten years.)

Controversy
Dan Brown’s books as well as the films based on them are fiction. I was in second or third grade when I learned the difference between fiction and non-fiction and admittedly much older when I started asking questions about books, film and television.

There are inaccuracies in “Angels & Demons” about history and Catholic practice such as who can be elected Pope and how. For example, “acclamation” was one of the valid forms of papal election before 1996, but in the film they call it “election by adoration” which really irritated my Catholic ears.

Despite these annoying elements, I did not find anything controversial in the film, nor did I find the film “Angels & Demons” anti-Catholic. It is more about action than theology, unlike “The Da Vinci Code” that attempted to dismantle Christianity. I interpret the worldview of “Angels & Demons” as commercialism struggling to become art.

Ted Baehr of Movieguide, a Christian organization that reviews films, without having seen the film, had this to say in a fundraising letter on April 29, 2009, about “Angels & Demons:”

“A clear anti-Christian message that not only are Christians evil and murderers but also that science has proven faith in Jesus Christ to be outdated! In the end, it is the highest echelon of the Catholic Church who is the villain!” However, the official Vatican newspaper review on May 5, 2009, of “Angels & Demons” states that the film is “Two hours of harmless entertainment, which hardly affects the genius and mystery of Christianity.”

As hard as some people have tried, “Angels & Demons” is not controversial. It is a Hollywood movie made with great skill. As the Vatican also noted, the filmmakers masterfully recreated the Vatican and various pieces of art for the film. The film is engaging and entertaining, contains scenes of peril and intense violence, and is about twenty minutes too long. Should you decide to see it, “Angels & Demons” is an intense thriller with a surprising, satisfying, moving, and even inspiring, finale.


Sister Rose Pacatte, FSP, is the founding director of the Pauline Center for Media Studies. Her blog, My Movies, is located at http://journals.aol.com/rosepacatte/MyMovies

Published in The Montana Catholic, Vol. 25, No. 5, May 15, 2009.