Lords: Part One connects to the DaVinci Code as movie protests hit Bakersfield - By N.L. Belardes

During Friday night’s wind storm I headed out to the opening night of the DaVinci Code. I had read the book by Dan Brown at the request of my old agent, Don Ackland who passed away in a 2004 car accident. Right away the night was stormy, reminding me of the storms in Lords: Part One and why I had written the Lords intro, The Coming of the Remittance Men.


A fitting wind storm outside of Pacific Theatres in the
Bakersfield opening of The DaVinci Code


Lords: Part One - a novel about a Bakersfield secret society

That particular intro was modeled after a similar secret society intro in Dan Brown's novel and was written at the request of Don Ackland.

Here's a snippet from an email form May 31, 2004.

...I do say the beginning was a construct modeled after
> the beginning of The DaVinci Code. For those readers
> who won't have an understanding of the secret
> societies of Bakersfield it is a must to clue them in.
> Close Encounters, well it is a novel of the late 70s
> mostly, and is of close encounters of the dark and
> dismal kind. And since the kid was on the streets of
> Hollywood and the film was out at the time--makes for
> a creepy and significant metaphor meant to help propel
> the character(I hope. How does the rest of the group
> feel?). I do plan on going back through and toning
> down the long sentences. But only a bit. Rushdie,
> Naipaul, Kerouac, Faulkner...and me, all long winded
> at times. Use those semi-colons to catch wind.

(DDA to Nick: Keep it going as you like it for Close Encoumters! And
you and I agree on the DaVinci Code model for intro notes, very powerful
back drop to all!. Also no shame in long sentences, quite the contrary; all
the cusomary rules in this matter are boring and an impediment to language
as thought. After all is said and done it is the "voice and the thought"
that matter, and all the dusty rules are just that, and best applied to more
mundane writing and expression.

Let's see, I remeber a few long,convoluted Melville thoughts (aka
sentences)in Moby Dick!

More soon, trust all is well in Bakersfield. I must get over there
soon! (My excessive use of the gratuitious "!" in this email would be frowned
upon by Fowler, however it's been a long weekend so I have an excuse for
taking the easy (aka "!") way out!)

Don Ackland was a funny guy. You can easily see why I would be interested in the movie. Although I thought the book mostly boring except for the intro, I had higher hopes for the movie.




Protestors unite faiths and stand outside of Pacific Theatres

Upon arriving at Bakersfield's Pacific Theatre I saw protesters in white T-shirts had gathered with a big banner at the Ming Avenue entrance. I was with Dirty Spanglish and Matildakay and while they got tickets I met some of the protestors who stood praying, carrying signs, images and prayer beads.





Although I disagreed with the protestors I have great respect for their ability to stand against what they believe is a blasphemous movie that might prey on weak-minded and doubtful Christians.


David Pena stands next to girl with sign.

Carlos Mayorga shared an entire binder filled with anti-DaVinci Code documents while David Pena discussed the movie's watering down of Jesus' divinity. We talked some about the Council of Nicea, gnostic writings and the protestor perspective of how the movie discredits the Gospels.


The anti-DaVinci Code binder

I was open about my views of the movie being entertainment and that I didn't remember as much protests regarding The Last Temptation of Christ, although I was much younger then. Come to think of it, didn't a local video store burn to the ground for selling the movie? David Pena mentioned Valley Bible representatives were going to protest and that the movie really helps unite Catholics and Protestants for a common cause.


Carlos Mayorga with bible

Carlos and David were very kind and peaceful, and although the movie is blasphemous, so is Star Wars for that matter. Fiction is fiction. But people have the right to stand up and protest, which reminds us that such movies, though blasphemous, are great conversation pieces for families and friends.

I recommend seeing the movie. It's better than the book though Tom Hanks does purposely play a stiff character. Ian McKellan steals the show for sure...

This entry was posted by N.L. Belardes, on Saturday, May 20, 2006. You can leave your response.