Reality Films presents THE MURDER OF MARY MAGDALENE - GENOCIDE IN THE HOLY BLOODLINE, which is an exploration of the Mary Magdalene bloodline utilizing codes, ciphers and physical locations, primarily that of the Lincoln Cathedral, or in full called The Cathedral Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Lincoln in England. The journey by columnist Dan Green who guides us through a strange web of mysteries and ideas to reveal the possible reality of Mary Magdalene in regards to the truth of the Holy Bloodline.

Most of what is popularly known now stems from Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code, however, Dan Green (I know, the irony!) seems to see the other side of the coin in the matter. While he does not disprove Brown's work, Green seems to actually stem from the work, but positing a more authentic view of desconstructing symbols rather than putting them into an action packed narrative. This will certainly offend more traditional belief systems despite its sincere nature in raising the truth regarding Mary Magdalene's history. What did happen to her?

 What starts out as a curious entry into the world decoding Christian symbolism becomes a weaving trail of word puns and statues pointing in certain directions and other synchronicities that led Green on his uncertain trail. One who has a familiar base of some of the locations would do well with this, but the documentary here does not give the beginner a sense of relationship between the various locations we explore, and judging from what Dan Green says, these are important aspects. That aside, it is a real treat to have much of this shot on location at Lincoln and its neighboring areas that add to the authenticity and credibility of what Dan Green informs us throughout the DVD.

Dan Green explores, not just Lincoln Cathedral, but also Rennes-le-Chatteau in France as well as the little known Temple Breur. In relation are the people involved from Isaac Newton, Berenger Sauniere, Victor Hugo and of course, later in the documentary, Leonardo Da Vinci. Dan Green does a nice job attempting to leave out speculation, but there is an aroma of tenuous links that he seems to really nibble at, such as the number "28" or the "Imp" from the Latin word "Imputantur" which is supposed to refer back to the Lincoln with a statue of an imp nested above in a V-shape design on the North side.

There are a few other danglers that are supposed to help support Green's work, but instead come across as either irrelevant or too far of a leap to grab hold of anything. They mention a "mysterious word" written on the ceiling of Lincoln that says "Fricabon", which the unseen narrator says "A word no one knows what it means", but then immediately decodes the word for us. There is no revelation even in this as its a word pun from some Latin form into English which says "Freak Upon" and then precludes it refers to the dog star Sirius. To me that was too great a leap to accept, and even the decode of "Freak Upon" says nothing to me and suggests nothing within the whole documentary. This was never mentioned again. The dog and the star Sirius are brought out a little more, but again, this seems derailing from the whole story. As if they are symbols for the sake of a mystery unfolding.

Even as Dan Green was talking about Lucifer and the green stone falling from his crown, on the screen we see a green pentagram, which actually does not have anything to do with whats being said. The pentagram is a different symbol all together and just to make it green does not tell us anything. Why not at least a painting of the fall of Lucifer?

Dan Green is certainly sincere in in his approach and has followed his own instincts in the matter, as he says it was a "serendipitous" unveiling, where things were falling into his path that had relationship to his journey. As another review mentions, "I do wonder if Green’s interpretation of those inner-outer experiences is more about his own personal journey rather than a universal truth concerning the unwritten history of Jesus and Mary Magdalene." Even the most casual conspiracy theorist should enjoy this film regardless of their beliefs as it will certainly spark conversation.

In this DVD, there is a lot of information given to the viewer and it does need some sifting to really sort through and find out what Dan Green is getting at. If one wants to capture Green's journey, it would appear more than one viewing is necessary. As I said, some are questionable, while others seem to have a bigger picture than at first glance. Whether Green has found the key is ultimately for the individual to decide. Rounding out this DVD is an interview on British TV with Green about his works on both the internet and small publications concerning this particular exploration of Mary Magdalene.

The DVD is presented in Full Frame, however, I wonder why some of the words, such as in the title frames, get cropped at the right and left. Its not shot Widescreen, so either my TV is cropping or something else. There is only 1 DVD menu which just has chapter stops. It looks like it was designed on a Nero DVD program. There are no special features and trailers for other Reality Films flow virtually seemlessly and without warning at the end of the DVD. THE MURDER OF MARY MAGDALENE is directed by Philip Gardiner, a staple name at Reality Films. Visit their site for more information.