So much average

From my favorite movies..

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

History or hoax? Fact or fiction? Tony Robinson acts as the presenter of a thorough study about the facts that we presented in Dan Brown's bestselling novel,"Da Vinci Code" in this documentary entitled "The Real Da Vinci Code". After novelist Dan Brown claimed that all the historical facts that were presented in his bestselling novel are true,this documentary presents a research of what it has found out by conducting a research of its own and interviewing different respected Bible scholars.In addition to that,Robinson comes to different locations such as France,United Kingdom,Scotland,Italy,Spain and Israel as it presents what it has found out in comparison to the facts presented in the "The Da Vinci Code" such as Jesus being married to Mary Magdalene,Jesus having a bloodline which is known as the Holy Grail,the truth behind the Priory of Scion,Knights Templar,Rosslyn Chapel and Leonardo Da Vinci's painting "The Last Supper" which allegedly revealed a secret from which the title of Dan Brown's novel was taken from.Surprisingly Michael Baigent,one of the three authors of "Holy Blood Holy Grail" from which Dan Brown took his inspiration in writing Da Vinci Code,discussed with Robinson about allegedly the secret that the Roman Catholic Church has kept for centuries about Jesus being married and having descendants.No question that this was an informative documentary about the search for the Holy Grail.It also proves accuracy in its research about the facts presented in Dan Brown's bestselling novel.One would surely enjoy it especially interviews with Dr. Elaine Pagels about the Gnostic Gospels particularly about the truth behind Mary Magdalene as one of the intimate disciples of Jesus and far from prostitute as Pope Gregory XII claimed centuries ago.They also try to study on whether Jesus was indeed married.Overall,the viewer will be provided of another insight about the facts presented in "The Da Vinci Code".

I'm use to seeing Tony Robinson as "Baldric" the faithful man-servant of Edmond Blackadder... But this documentary showed that he is a keen observer of history and is willing to go to just about any lengths to get to the facts behind a story. Not only does he tell the historical facts behind the "Da Vinci Code", but takes you on the journey of discovery himself and visits the actual locations and interviewing people involve at the sites... It was just an awesome work. If only people who read the book ( or wrote the Book)or watch the Da Vinci Code would demonstrate as much curiosity as to check out the facts... I can't speak highly enough of this documentary.

Most people know Tony Robinson from comedy roles, but he has hosted several series of Time Team, where each episode a bunch of archaeologists have four days to investigate a site. The series is well known and popular in the UK.This explains the part about digging up the church.A thoroughly good documentary, although there is other stuff that could have been mentioned. There is another legend that Mary Magdalene arrived by boat with her sister Martha and brother Lazarus (of raising from the dead fame) in Marseille and and later spent 30 years in a cave in La Saint Baume, south east France, which is not covered.The error in transcribing Sang Real could have had better coverage too, but 90 minutes is quite long for a TV documentary.There are quite a few comedic parts, like the bobbing head Christ figure in the car.

Tony Robinson is mostly known for his comedy work in stuff like "Black Adder". This work was the first time I ever saw him in a serious piece, and a documentary at that. It was a very positive surprise. Tony (and his invisible researches) takes a look at the roots behind the myths in the bestseller book "Da vinci code". He hunts for the holy grail and examines some of the places in the book and also looks for the basis of some holy grail myth. Robinson manages to cover a lot of ground. This is a high class documentary, boring historians are given space, but it never gets boring because somehow the boring parts are edited out. This documentary is almost as fast-paced as the book. Well worth watching, I have seen it three times, twice before and once after reading the book. My only complaint is that they did not dig deep enough in some places.