Veni, Vidi, Mendacia

Rating: 4/10 (17 August 2006)

From a cinema production point of view, this is a fine effort. Good acting, editing, lighting, sound, cinematography, etc. No quibbles there. It was a riveting suspense tale with all the elements of the genre thrown in: False leads, red herrings, -- As a movie, I enjoyed it.
As a valid representation of two thousand years of religious history, the movie falls short. While, over the centuries, there has been no shortage of persecutions, killings, banishments, etc. done in the name of Jesus, or the Pope, when you boil them all down, most were really the result of envy, greed, and good old fashioned political rivalry. They were mostly after gain, territory, plunder and glory. To ascribe most if not all malfeasance done during 2000 years to the central motivation laid out in this movie --Jesus was (gulp!)married to Mary Magdalene-- is just silly. Would people really kill each other because some think he was married, and others not? Most people would shrug their shoulders and say "so what?" Being married would have not been unusual for a Rabbi at the time. What of it? Also, the idea that if he was married, he couldn't have been divine, merits another "say what, why not?" Many believe that the very reason he alone could atone for all humanity was because, as a divine mortal, he was uniquely qualified to give his life for us. It was his free will gift. He could, of his own free will, sacrifice himself for our sins.
Aside from the theological arguments, perhaps the most disturbing aspect of this movie was the depiction of all religiously orthodox and devoted Catholics as despicable monsters capable of killing without a hint of conscience. This goes right along with the trend in Hollywood these days: Christianity = evil. Only those who somehow held out the secular ideal of Jesus as just a "great teacher" but not divine were depicted as good and honorable. This is a hurtful stereotype, and is deeply resented by religiously oriented people, yet it seems to be the stock-in-trade of filmdom these days. For falling into this trap, the movie is cheapened and is almost laughable at times in its excessively evil portrayal of all clergy. Maybe some day, an honest depiction of the overwhelmingly good priests, monks, friars, cardinals, etc. will be made, but it's not this movie.