The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown, one of the most controversial fiction books of our time, moved on to the next step of all big books — it was made into a movie. But before it could make its way to the big screen, it had to hurdle a lot of impediments along the way. What makes this so controversial is that the story suggests that Jesus Christ married Mary Magdalene and had offspring, and that the Church hid this fact from the world.
It was actually banned in Manila and given an R18 rating by MTRCB, so it’s not shown in any SM cinemas because SM does not show R18 movies.
Luckily for us, our favorite cinema is neither in Manila nor in SM, because it’s in Greenbelt 3, Makati. So last Wednesday, I logged on to sureseats and bought our tickets for Friday night. The sureseats server was so slow that it took me half a day just to buy 3 tickets, but finally, I was able to confirm seats in the 11:10 pm slot of Greenbelt 3 Cinema 2. For big movies like this one, I always make sure to watch in Greenbelt because aside from getting reserved seating (which means I don’t have to worry that I’d get lousy seats or worse, have standing room only), their seats are raised so that even if a tall guy were infront of me I’d still be able to see the entire screen. Not to mention how roomy and comfy the seats are. The tickets I bought were for Zenie, Maya and me. The funny thing was, later on we discovered that coincidentally, Nald, Reggie and Chu also bought tickets to the same timeslot in the same cinema, though they each had different companions.
So yesterday, before the big movie event, Maya invited me to have dinner with her to celebrate the approval and arrival of her new credit card. We met in Powerbooks Greenbelt and headed to Italiannis, a pricey restaurant that was in our “must try someday” list. Unfortunately it was booked full, so we decided to go to Tony Roma’s instead. The place is known for steaks, so we shared an order of a steak combo, which was composed of a cut of steak, salmon, our choice of side order (we chose fries) and coleslaw. We also had strawberry iced tea and skillet cookie sundae for dessert. Like Outback, which the two of us also tried before (we both loved the banana split shake there. The best!), they also served some bread with butter on a wooden board before the meal. The cheesy dip for the fries was so yummy, so with the coleslaw, which wasn’t overdrenched in mayo and retained its crisp veggie taste. I am no expert of steaks and I don’t really like meat that much so I won’t comment on the main course. The strawberry iced tea had real strawberry bits in it, and tasted great. But what I’d recommend at this place is the skillet cookie sundae. It’s a freshly baked big cookie on a skillet with a huge scoop of ice cream on top. The cookie was still warm, with a soft chewy batter, and it blended well with the ice cream. The best!
After dinner, Maya and I headed to Greenbelt to claim our tickets. Chu was also there on the counter and I got so shocked when he said hi. Note to self: cut down on the coffee. After claiming the tickets, I turned around and almost ran into John Pratts and Say Alonzo, both celebrities noted for being part of Pinoy Big Brother. Huh. I didn’t even know they were an item. John was thinner and shorter than I imagined. I was taller than him, with my heels.
Maya and I then played for a while in Timezone. She discovered a new game she loved, one that involved pointing a gun and shooting all your enemies. Another note to self: don’t anger Maya. Hehe. Finally, it was time for the movie, so we walked out, saw Zenie, and walked into the cinema. After getting seated, our cellphones beeped. It was Nald with a short message: “I18.” My seat. He could see us. We looked around but couldn’t find him. Oh well. The movie started, and we settled in. Just then, Chu arrived late, with his debate pals Jenilee, Ruth, and Jefrey. Their seats were right behind us.
Now, about the movie. I expected that it would have a different impact on those who had already read the book, and those who had not. I also expected that they would change some things and completely cut out some, which was what happened. But no major stuff were cut out, and all in all the movie captured the book’s story.
However, if you haven’t read the book, you would probably get lost in the fast pace of the story’s progression, and would probably not understand some of the things discussed there, like what happened to Zenie. If you’ve read it already, though, the movie would lose some of its appeal because it no longer has the element of surprise. So perhaps the best combination would be to first watch the movie, and then read the book, so that you’d understand it more.
But overall, I’d still recommend the book. It explains it better there. And another note: the movie was safe, and wasn’t even shocking. I think the Church is overreacting. It certainly did not shake my faith (though I must admit, I am inclined to believe the claims there that the Church did things to undermine the sacred feminine) and besides, it’s supposed to be a work of fiction. Duh.