Customer Reviews

Breaking the Da Vinci Code: Solves the 2000 Year Old Mystery

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3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

This documentary shows why The Da Vinci Code is a work of fiction. It does not take away from the entertainment value of The Da Vince Code. It simply sheds light on the various lines of reasoning used to come to the conclusions reached in The Da Vince Code. Watching this DVD will educate the viewer in the history of the spread of early Christianity.

Overall this is an interesting DVD. The main problem I had with this DVD was that after a while you start to notice that it is quite a bit one sided. It is ALL quite against Dan Brown's book. You start to feel like behind the scenes of this DVD it is put together by very conservative Christians. Although I personally do not believe the notion that Jesus was married to Mary or for that matter I do not take Dan Brown's book too seriously as a true source of historical/religious wisdom--at all, I still found this DVD to be quite a bit one sided and conservative. No one on this program even goes into the interesting topic of at least questioning the standard Christian dogmas that have been purported over the centuries. No one on this program even brings up the fascinating notion of exploring a Jesus beyond the conservative views----at least to explore the idea. NO, this program mainly pushes how perfect the bible is and how if it's not in the scriptures it's not reliable.
Those people that clearly are against the Da Vinci code book will enjoy this program most. Those that are in the grey areas or conspiracy theory types will not like this DVD much.
I think it's fair to say that there are a lot of people like myself who do not really believe in the theories of Da Vinci Code yet find it fascinating because it at least makes one go beyond just being spoon feed religion. I was hoping this DVD would have a bit of that flavor of a well rounded discussion but it did not. All the experts they had on their panel were clearly against all the ideas in Da Vinci code and that was pretty much the tone of the whole DVD.
You make up your mind for yourself if that is a balanced discussion.

'Breaking the Da Vinci Code' does an excellent job of presenting the legitimate facts of Biblical History. Dan Brown's book, which he admits draws significantly from a previous book, 'Holy Blood, Holy Grail', has numerous flagrant historical flaws in it, which this video brings forth. Of course, Mr. Brown's supporters will argue that this is a 'novel', but the point is Mr. Brown represents his novel as being based on 'fact'. This legitimately opens him up to an honest, scholarly review of his 'facts'. As 'Breaking the Da Vinci Code' demonstrates, Mr. Browns 'facts' are essentially fiction. The core of the 'Holy Blood, Holy Grail' thesis, which Mr. Brown makes the core of his book (i.e., the claimed marriage and offspring of Jesus and Mary Magadalene, the connection between the Knights Templar and the alleged 'Priory of Sion', the claimed authenticity of the 'Dossier Secret' in the French National Library) are all exposed as either a fraud or fictional speculations.
As added support to the information provided by 'Breaking the Da Vinci Code', CBS's 60 Minutes recently did their own investigation of the claims of Mr. Brown (which aired just recently on April 30th) and came to the same conclusions reached by this video, that there is no support for a so-called 'Priory of Sion' beyond the demonstrably fraudulent 'Dossier Secret' (which are forgeries created by Pierre Plantard, a French anti-semitic nationalist, and some of his circle), that there is no historical evidence to support a supposed marriage between Mary Magadalene and Jesus (or any other women for that matter), and that Mr. Brown's claims (as well as those of the writers of 'Holy Blood, Holy Grail') are merely a regurgitation of the old Gnostic psuedopigraphia which have rightly and properly been excluded from the Biblical canon for very sound and legitimate historical reasons.
It should also be pointed out that this is not merely a 'conservative' viewpoint. Both liberal and conservative theologians, history scholars, and art historians have almost unanimously 'debunked' and rejected Mr. Brown's claims of 'fact' advanced in his book. Legitimate historians are concerned about real evidence, not mere speculation in the manner advanced by Mr. Brown.
I can also state that my own research as a former Bible Seminary student and historical researcher has also confirmed the same conclusions reached by 60 Minutes and 'Breaking the Da Vinci Code'. If someone is going to attempt to overturn 2000 years of established, documented, and corroborated history, which has been substantiated and affirmed by scholars down through the centuries, he's going to have to come up with a lot more evidence than 'The Da Vinci Code' and 'Holy Blood, Holy Grail' have produced.

The reputable scholar in archeology, theology and art history explain the differences between the fact and fiction in Da Vinci Code. I really like the interesting bonus features including the life of Lenardo Da vinci and the tour at the rosslyn chapel. The bonus interviews with the historian and theologian gave the in-depth discussion about the controversial topic regarding the Jesus's Marriage with Mary Magdalene and the structure of the bible in early Christianity History. If you are fascinated by the Da Vinci Code, why don't you also consider watch this DVD from different perspectives.

It is a bit strange to watch all this fight against Dan Brown's book. What is for? Millions people who like the Da Vinci Code book usually do not take it as a source of historical facts. The value of this book is not in the particular facts but in general (and serious) idea about danger of destroying male-female balance in society. Indeed, a human being consists of two parts. Males and females have very different views on this World so that these views should be well balanced. If one of the parts becomes heavily predominating, it may be truly dangerous for survival of our species. Dan Brown just takes our attention to the problem. He shows that the imbalance has a long history and it might be a major source of many current problems in human society as well as the source of overall instability on the Earth. And the latter is not fiction.

Breaking the Da Vinci Code does a good job of separating fact and fiction & key attacks on Christianity by Dan Brown's book DaVinci Code.

Tony Robinson's "The Real Da Vinci Code" offers a thorough investigation that is a more even blend between the experts in art, history and other areas in contrast to those who a filling their pockets by labeling repackaged myths, legends and popular fiction as facts (Brown, et al).

The facts are in: Dan Brown does not seem to have any in his "factual" and "accurate" book. Of note, it seems that he "borrowed" his story lines from other works, so there may not be too many original ideas in his work either.

Brown's bold claims are deeply dishonest and clearly unethical. That always sells well, unfortunately.

This is an extremely biased DVD put together by Christians for Christians. I thought it would be some "Discovery Channel"-type look at the historical facts surrounding the controversy, but it's not. Since viewing this, I have seen some other similar programs on The History Channel and The National Geographic Channel which are much more fair, and give both sides of the argument equal time. This one doesn't. It also has several facts wrong. If you are really interested in the history behind the controversy, buy something else. This is very one-sided and is only good for showing in a church basement during a revival meeting.

I really have no interest in the Da Vinci Code phenomena, not so much because I am a Christian but because it seemed too contrived and the marketing around it too slick (not to mention the fact that Dan Brown's academic qualifications appeared to be non-existent). The similarity to the whole Holy Blood, Holy Grail thing (which I could only read 80 or so pages of before concluding that it was totally ludacrous) didn't help either. So only when I happened to come across this dvd at the library did I decide to watch it, and now that I have, I'm glad I did. It essentially confirms my suspicions about the whole Da Vinci Code phenomena, although I won't go so far as to say that I'll consider it the final word in debunking it. It does provide me with some food for thought, leads for further research were I ever to be so inclined. In particular I found interesting the fact that Brown made a number of fundamental mistakes and apparently blatantly ripped off other people's work, namely a book called The Da Vinci Legacy which was published some twenty years ago. In the end, I have to agree somewhat with an assertion made in the dvd that Brown has an anti-Christian agenda, that his intent is to undermine the Christian faith by sowing disinformation and doubt, while in the process making a large amount of money.

Nothing more than the same thing others write. No new information.

It is nice to see a reasonable discussion of Dan Brown's claims of factual representation. The main program on this DVD is only an hour long, so it cannot go into every aspect of the story. The main points of contention are discussed with scholars (Mr. Brown does not participate) who are knowledgeable in the various disciplines (art history, biblical accuracy, etc.) explored in this story. This documentary avoids the sensationism with which many alleged delvings into these 'mysteries' have been awash.