With production on the Da Vinci Code sequel conveniently postponed for now, The Golden Compass has pointed the Vatican's eye for blasphemous content in a new direction.
"Hope simply does not exist" in the world created by British author Philip Pullman, read part of a long editorial printed Wednesday in the Vatican newspaper l'Osservatore Romano, in which the Roman-Catholic body takes the big-screen adaptation of Pullman's fantasy novel The Northern Lights to task.
"In Pullman's world, hope simply does not exist, because there is no salvation but only personal, individualistic capacity to control the situation and dominate," the editorial said.
The Northern Lights is the first novel in Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy, in which humans' souls reside outside their body in the form of shape-shifting animals called dæmons.
The story, published in 1995, features an ecclesiastical governing body—the Magisterium—that keeps its subjects on a short leash in order to impose its beliefs and limit freedom of thought. The evil entity, as heroine Lyra Belacqua soon finds out, is also connected to the disappearance of several children.
Daniel Craig, who plays Lyra's uncle Lord Asriel, said at the film's U.K. premiere last month that he wasn't surprised by the criticism, but that the film has all of its moral ducks in a row.
"I think that the majority of people who are criticizing it haven't read it," Craig said. "These books are not anti-religious. Mainly they're anti-misuse of power—whether it's religious or political. They sell Dan Brown now in the Vatican so I'm sure they'll be selling this there too eventually because it presents a very healthy debate."
An analysis in the Christian Science Monitor Dec. 7, the day the film hit theaters with a financial whimper, agrees with the interpretation that what The Golden Compass is really criticizing is the concept of "stifling orthodoxy," and that the Magisterium represents the face of "authoritarian adulthood" more than any particular religious body.
Pullman, an atheist, has denied penning a religion-bashing novel (although he has reportedly admitted in the past to undermining the basis Christian belief), but that hasn't stopped groups such as the Catholic League, which instituted a boycott of The Da Vinci Code last year, from touting a pamphlet titled "The Golden Compass: Agenda Unmasked" and calling upon its members to bypass the film.
But the furor over the book's supposed implications of godlessness hasn't stopped the series' purist fans from raising a ruckus over the lack of religious mentions in the film.
All references to churches have been excised from the movie version; instead, the Magisterium is just your everyday dictatorship, give or take the existence of mystical objects like alethiometers and the organization's fear of Dust.
The Vatican maintains, however, that the film still speaks to the heart of Pullman's writings: the nonexistence of God.
The Golden Compass proves that "when man tries to eliminate God from his horizon, everything is reduced, made sad, cold and inhumane," the editorial said.
Viewers will find it "devoid of any particular emotion apart from a great chill."
But perhaps no one—either for or against—needed to worry too much about the film's message, considering the big-budget New Line production, starring Nicole Kidman, Daniel Craig and newcomer Dakota Blue Richards as Lyra, took in a disappointing $25.8 million at the box office in its opening weekend, and then took a 65 percent hit the following week.
Its reception overseas has been warmer, however, accounting for nearly 68 percent of its $134 million overall take. The effects-laden film's budget is estimated at $180 million.
The poor numbers are mildly "consoling," the Vatican said.