First, it’s a current movie and while I’m a movie buff, my opinion of any current film is no better than yours. Secondly I didn’t read the book. Mysteries of any kind are not really my cup of tea. But thirdly and most importantly is the controversial, religious theme of the book and movie.

I don’t know if you can start more fights talking about politics or talking about religion, and I’m not anxious to find out.

But I feel I should write about it because so many are talking about it.

As for the movie itself, I enjoyed it. Some who have read the book tell me some things were left out and few rough edges smoothed over. That’s undoubtedly true and the reaction of critics has been mostly lukewarm, many saying it’s not terrible, but certainly not the best work of director Ron Howard or actor Tom Hanks. That seems reasonable to me, although as a movie, it kept my interest.

It is, of course, the premise of the movie and the book that has created all the controversy: that Jesus Christ was married to Mary Magdalene and that they had a child.

I consider the premise to be ludicrous and always have. You should know, if you don’t, that the premise has been around for some time.

Martin Scorcese, himself a great director, made a movie called “The Last Temptation of Christ” about 13 years ago. It also was faced with protest, but it didn’t have a best selling book behind it and quickly faded from view.

I consider myself a person of faith, but didn’t feel that faith was compromised in any way by going to the movie. I would have felt the same way had I read the book: I would have considered it fiction and not true. For me, at least, end of argument.

But, of course, that is not the end of the argument.

What’s been interesting to me is the reaction of clergymen. I certainly don’t think it’s 50-50, but many have said people should see the movie or read the book then have a discussion on the life of Christ. They have obviously taken the stance that any discussion about Christ is good, that the gospel will win out. That, too, seems reasonable to me.

But I also understand others who feel differently. They consider it all to be blasphemous. I may not agree, but certainly respect those who feel the message of Christ, the crucifixion and the resurrection may be sullied, even in something labeled as fiction.

But there has been a great deal of heated rhetoric on both sides.

Which brings me to Peggy Noonan.

You may not know her, but she is one of the finest writers in the country. She wrote speeches for Ronald Reagan and wrote the words “reach out to touch the face of God” that Reagan read so eloquently after the Challenger tragedy.

She has nothing good to say about actor Tom Hanks or director, Ron Howard.

She writes in the Wall Street Journal:

“Why would Tom Hanks and Ron Howard lend their prestige to such a film? ‘They seem immature and destructive.’ ‘They have been given so much. This was no way to say thanks.’ ‘The DaVinci Code may still triumph at the box office, but it’s creators have been embarrassed. Good. They should be.’”

With all due respect to Ms. Noonan who is considerably wealthier, a much better writer and better known than I, her comments may have been the dumbest thing ever written by a good writer.

Whether or not the film is a flop, whether or not you agree with the premise, it will not hurt Hanks or Howard in any way and they have not been embarrassed.

She talks about paying back. Both men have done that time and again. They represent the very best in Hollywood, not the worst.

Aside from the great acting and director done by Hanks and Howard, both men have been models of what we would hope successful people are: generous with their money, kind toward others and seeing things outside themselves.

Both have given millions to charity. Without Hanks there may not be a World War II monument in Washington or a D-Day museum in New Orleans.

Neither man has ever been surrounded by even a hint of scandal. Both could have long ago retired to the golf course, but have continued to make films, many of them simply entertainment, but others trying to say something, trying to add to knowledge of history or the human condition. I don’t think they were trying to make any point at all in “The DaVinci Code”. They were simply trying to make an entertaining film based on a popular book. Theirs have been lives to be envied, not derided, no matter what you may think of their latest movie and I don’t think for a second that either man is anti- Christ, anti-religion or anti-Bible.

In the end, I probably have changed no one’s mind about any of this. That was not my intent. Everyone’s religious beliefs are their own and should be honored as such.

But I would say this: I have read thousands of books in my life, many of them fiction. I have seen hundreds of movies and I know a lot about both mediums, but I have never lost sight of the fact that a book or a movie is simply that, nothing more. Some are better than others, but I accept or reject each on its own merits. That is the freedom each of us have.

It’s called free will and unless I am mistaken, that is a gift from God.

BOOK OF THE WEEK

“Band of Brothers” by Steven Ambrose

Yes, this is the book on which the HBO mini series was based. I personally feel the mini series to be in the top handful ever made and the book to be must reading if you have any interest at all in World War Two.

Ambrose, who passed away a couple of years ago, was one of our best historians and wrote extensively about war and this is one of his best works.

The book is the true story of the paratroopers of Easy Company; from training, thru D-Day to the end of the war.

The men were all just average guys, plucked from civilian life to do a job. Their lives, their deaths, their failures and successes remain one of the best chronicles of war ever written from the vantage point of the average soldier.