Lev - The Real Angels and Demons

One of the most eloquent and even-toned writers, Elizabeth Lev, weighs in on the notorious Dan Brown/Ron Howard film, Angels and Demons:

I spent almost two years with the production crew of "Angels and Demons," getting to know Ron Howard and the heads of the production staff fairly well. They were fascinated by the Vatican to the point where moments of respect for the Church shine forth in the movie, despite the unsympathetic agenda of the story. Having visited the scavi and seen the tomb of St. Peter, Ron Howard abandoned his earlier idea of having the anti-matter bomb, the pivotal plot device, resting among the bones of St. Peter, to avoid having Robert Langdon's hands disturb the resting place of the first Pope.

So how does one deal with the demons among the angels? For one, avoid feeding controversy about the film.

Howard is narrating Church history on its own turf. His characters are but temporal tourists in the Eternal City; they say one thing, the city itself says something completely different ...

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