Da Vinci Mania
I'm off to a preview screening of The Da Vinci Code tonight. I'll blog a review afterwards. Already, Ron Howard's been taking quite a pasting from the critics. One reviewer says, 'You know a movie's a dud when even its self-flagellating albino killer monk isn't any fun.'
Speaking of albino killers: support groups for people with Albinism are outraged that the film is perpetuating the Holywood tradition of casting people with the condition as villains. They may have a point. It turns out that The Da Vinci Code's character of Silas, the Murderous Monk, is the 68th film since 1960 to feature an evil albino, including the twins in The Matrix Reloaded, the hit man in Foul Play, and the evil executioner in the comedy movie The Princess Bride . I'll have a spokesperson from the Albinism Fellowship on tomorrow's Stephen Nolan Show.
Comments
Yes.... although people with hooks for hands have always been portrayed as evil too (maybe rightly, if crazed Muslim cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri is anything to go by).
Of the few movies I can think of having featured albinos, one came to mind who isn't evil and actually ends up being an unlikely hero of sorts: 'Whitey' in the Jim Carrey comedy Me, Myself and Irene.
Another reason why I dislike The Da Vicni Code, it mocks albinos. This is just typical racist stuff from an empire bent on imposing its will on a world that wants to declare its cultural independence [from Hollywood].