Local viewpoint in ‘Da Vinci’ debate

What’s better than a documentary on something real? A documentary on something imagined!

That must be the thinking behind “Da Vinci Declassified,” a documentary by Beantown Productions that tries to debunk some of the claims made in a best-selling work of fiction, “The Da Vinci Code” by Dan Brown.

The documentarians interview a script writer and a performer from “The Pageant of the Masters” as they explore a controversial theory in Brown’s mystery novel that Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene.

Brown’s novel is based on a theory that Leonardo da Vinci was privy to secret information about Jesus and Mary Magdalene handed down over the centuries through the ultra-secret Priory of Scion, and that a “code” exists in “The Last Supper” alluding to this secret information.

Characters in “The Da Vinci Code” eventually embark on a hair-raising quest for the Holy Grail -- which Brown portrays as being the product of the presumed union of Jesus and Mary Magdalene.

Raymond Diaz, a public relations representative for the documentary, says the directors, David Carr and David Comtois, took an in-depth look at “2,000 years of history and art” in just over two months of filming.

In the film, Carr and Comtois seek to “tackle head-on the legends and myths” that surround the Priory of Scion, the group at the center of Brown’s theories.

Enter the scriptwriter for the Pageant of the Masters, Dan Duling, and the actress who plays John the Beloved in da Vinci’s “The Last Supper,” Kristina Malek.

In Romance art, according to Comtois, young men often have feminine features and are therefore easier for the pageant to depict using women.

The part of Brown’s book that has ruffled the most feathers is the claim that John the Beloved, in “The Last Supper,” is actually Mary Magdalene and that Mary was married to Jesus.

Duling and Malek’s inclusion in the documentary would make sense if the subject was whether Jesus and Magdalene were married, but that wasn’t their subject at all.

As a matter of fact, the figure of Jesus in the Pageant’s “Last Supper” has in the past been portrayed by a woman -- which in itself has been a closely guarded secret for years, according to pageant officials.

Diaz describes “Da Vinci Declassified” as “fun, fast-paced, irreverent” -- much like Brown’s book.

“Da Vinci Declassified” will air on TLC (The Learning Channel) this Sunday. For more information on the Pageant of the Masters, go to www.foapom.com. Filmmakers seeking to debunk ‘Da Vinci Code’ interview woman who appeared in Pageant of Masters.20051028iozu5hkn(LA)Actress Kristina Malek appears as John the Beloved in Leonardo da Vinci’s “The Last Supper” at the Pageant of the Masters.