Reviewed by Andrew Wooding

National Treasure
Director: Jon Turteltaub (2004)
Distributor: Buena Vista International UK  Certificate: PG

Spoiler notice: If you read on will become aware of how the film ends.

Here's my review in a nutshell: One to watch when it comes out on video. Something to while away two hours if it's late at night and you want to turn your brain off. (In fact, switching your brain off is a necessity if you want to enjoy this film!) Don't get the wrong impression - I enjoyed it quite a lot. But like a Chinese takeaway, half an hour after watching it I was hungry again!

I was expecting this film to be like Tomb Raider and Raiders of the Lost Ark. Parts of it were. One of the opening scenes, set in the Arctic Circle, and the final scene, set in a vast underground chamber beneath the streets of New York, could have come straight out of any one of the Tomb Raider games. But the remainder of the film is a runaround throughout the States. This could be Mission Impossible, or any one of dozens of US TV detective series. In fact, this whole film seems like a "made for TV" movie, but with a slightly bigger budget.

Harvey Keitel is good (he always is), but the material he is given hardly stretches him. To me, the only standout performance was the villain of the film, played by Sean Bean. Most English accented villains played in US thrillers (normally by Alan Rickman or Ben Kingsley) come across as upper class pantomime villains. Instead, Sean Bean's villainy is restrained, and he uses his soft-spoken Sheffield accent throughout. Very refreshing, but then I might be biased since I live in Sheffield.

One other troubling fact. National Treasure appears to be a propaganda film for the Freemasons. The Masons (and their precursors, the Knights Templar), are the heroes and all-round good guys of the piece. They are the ones who preserved all those priceless treasures for humanity, including scrolls from the lost Library of Alexandria, they are amongst the founding fathers of America, playing a big role in the signing of the Declaration of Independence, and without the bravery of Benjamin Gates and his Freemason family, as well as Harvey Keitel's Freemason FBI agent, the good guys wouldn't have won.

If you can put this to one side - and if you like your films written in the style of a Scooby Doo cartoon - then this is for you. It was definitely a film for me, and I may even watch it again on video... but then I like Scooby Doo!

THROUGH THE LENS OF CHRISTIAN FAITH 

Some key themes: What is real treasure - material things, or something more?

"Also, the kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field. One day a man found the treasure, and then he hid it in the field again. He was so happy that he went and sold everything he owned to buy that field" (Matthew 13 v 44).

"Don't store treasures for yourselves here on earth where moths and rust will destroy them and thieves can break in and steal them. But store your treasures in heaven where they cannot be destroyed by moths or rust and where thieves cannot break in and steal them. Your heart will be where your treasure is" (Matthew 6 v 19-21).

Benjamin Gates, the hero of National Treasure, is a driven man. He comes from a long line of Gates, who through the last two centuries have been obsessed with tracking down a mysterious secret treasure hidden by the Knights Templar, the precursors to the Freemasons. All of Benjamin's studies at university were purely to give him the skills needed to find the treasure. And he is willing to sacrifice everything in order to go after it. Finding that treasure is the only thing that matters to him.

This sounds very similar to the words of Jesus in Matthew 13 v 44. Jesus talked about someone who was so obsessed at finding a treasure that he sold everything he had in order to get it. Can you identify with that in any way? I'm a collector, and I love getting complete sets of comics, books or videos. If there's only one item missing before I can complete a set in my collection, I might pay well above the asking price just to get that item (ebay is great for things like that!). Do you have a similar obsession?

Jesus also talks about treasure in Matthew 6 v 19-21. He talks about things we might see as valuable eventually being eaten away by rust or moths. Yes, I collect old comics, but most of these were printed on cheap paper and eventually are going to decay and rot. I don't think Jesus minds me collecting things, but there is a word of caution from him - don't let it take over your life! Instead, treasure the things that won't decay or rot. What could those things be?

There is a touching scene towards the end of National Treasure where all of Benjamin Gates' travels, detective work and exploits have finally brought him to a secret treasure room beneath the streets of New York. This is it. This is what his whole life has been leading up to. But the room is empty - it appears that someone has been there before him and cleared out the treasure. Ben's dad (played by Jon Voight) is with him and says that he is proud of his son because he has restored his family's honour - they didn't find the treasure, but in getting to this room and proving that the treasure actually exists, he has proved that the family weren't crazy. In other words, finding the treasure is nothing compared to family, relationships, love, honour. (As to whether they actually find the treasure after this scene, you'll have to see the film!)

Jesus goes one step further than saying that real treasure is about love and relationships. He says that "the kingdom of heaven" is like treasure. Which begs another question - what is the kingdom of heaven? Well, that's probably an article for another time, but here's a clue: you can't have a kingdom without a king. Can you guess the identity of the king of the kingdom of heaven, and are you willing to sacrifice everything for him?

Have your say on the discussion forum....

· What, to you, is treasure? Do you collect things? Do you like shiny objects? Have you ever travelled halfway across the country just to acquire something?

· If you use ebay, what do you search for on there?

· What do you know - from the Bible and elsewhere - about the kingdom of God and the kingdom of heaven? Is it something you go to when you die, or does the kingdom start here, right now? Jesus compared it to treasure - what is there to treasure about the kingdom?

To discuss this further why not leave a message of the discussion forum.