The movie, like the novel, takes its message very, very seriously. This is blatantly obvious in the final 15 minutes, when Langdon (Tom Hanks) yammers endlessly about how the most important thing is what you believe -- not whether or not it is true, good, or right. While deviating in exact language from the novel, this is essentially Brown's message (as he as expressed in interviews): we must be able to create our own truth and not have truth shoved down our throats by nasty old men who are selling us the lie called Christianity. This is a misleading and false choice, of course, but one that plays very well in today's culture.This hits the nail right on the proverbial head! We have a culture that doesn't want rules or one truth -- we have a culture that wants to make its own truth based on what it wants to do right now. The Catholic Church has spent the past 2000 years explaining and defending that there is one Truth.
But, if I can convince myself and others that I have my truth, you have yours and he has his, then we can do what we want. Religion is between me and God -- there is no one else and no one can tell me what to do. This is subjective ethics -- there is no one truth and therefore there are no rules. This is the "Me Generation" on steroids.
Which always brings me back to the quote:
Jesus answered, "You say that I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I have come into the world, to bear witness to the truth. Every one who is of the truth hears my voice."
Pilate said to Him, "What is truth?" [John 18:37-38]
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