NATIONAL TREASURE -BOOK OF SECRETS: A LONG REVIEW

NATIONAL TREASURE BOOK OF SECRETS (2007)

This is the latest movie in a series that could easily continue as long as Friday The Thirteenth or Holloween. There is a similarity in the plotting of this latest episode to prior ones, and that fact makes it about as interesting as a professional football game. In the latter the plot involves running left, running right, running up the gut, tossing left, tossing right, tossing over the center, and the use of occasional gimmicks and variations. So it is with this latest National Treasure.

Clues lead “Benjamin Franklin Gates” (Cage) to France, then to England, then back to Washington, D.C., and finally to the Dakotas before concluding with an epilog. “Mitchell Wilkinson” (Ed Harris) plays “D”(efense) in this flick.

The direction wasn’t outstanding. There was entirely too much time spent under the rocks near Mount Rushmore, and especially wobbling on a “teeterboard.” Still, for the most part the film moved along. The problem is that all the scenes are so deja vu. Helpfully, the sets are typically crammed with curious stuff. For those locally bound there is some enjoyment to traveling to storied and/or scenic realms of this earth,  while seated. Also, there are bits of actual history tossed into the filmscheme.

One matter for which the moviegoer can feel some gratitude toward Mr. Turteltaub is that he seems to have almost obliterated Nicholas Cage’s tendency toward a bovine stare, which tendency has earned him my appellation of “The Moo Man.” However, at the end in that part I call an epilog, Cage gets off a mini cow gaze. It’s his thing; you wouln’t understand.

There seems to be at least one anachronism: there is a reference to the Freedom of Information Act being used to get data in 1966, if I heard correctly. I am confident that the law wasn’t enacted until about mid-1970s.

The storyline: A piece of apparently authentic document surfaces which impugns the reputation of a Civil War-era, Gates member. Brought to the attention of the learned public during a lecture by Ben Gates (Nicholas cage) (with Dad present also) by a Mr. Wilkinson (Ed Harris), the document seems to “finger” the Gates’ ancestor as a participant with John Wilkes Booth and company in the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln. The shocked Benjamin and Patrick Gates deny their ancestor’s complicity. This is the motivation for Benjamin Gates to try to clear his family name from this dishonorable association. Fortunately, there are extant clues with which to work, and, as is the nature of these films, one clue leads to another. The denouement occurs under the outcroppings near Mount Rushmore. The treasure hunt serves to remind them all that there are things more important than gold. In the end things such as family honor and family bonds prove more precious than a city of gold. So, at heart, this film is sort of sentimental.

The film opens with a shot of irregularly spaced men walking along a narrow, dirt road. There is a man missing the lower part of one leg, using a crutch. They all wear Union Blue. This opens into a Civil War-era vignette centered in Washington, D.C. In this vignette the moviegoer sees members of the Knights of  the Golden Circle talking to Thomas Gates, ancestor of Patrick (John Voight) and Benjamin Franklin Gates (Nicholas Cage). Soon, John wilkes Booth himself is followed through a back entrance to the loge of President Lincoln. A key element in this vignette is a coded document, which the KGC men present to Thomas Gates to decode. He begins but a dispute erupts, and Thomas Gates tosses the document into a fireplace where it is partially destroyed. His boy is a witness to this event.

Then there is a camera cut to present time, where we find the Gates, Patrick and Benjamin, lecturing on history you may have overlooked.

The appearance of Ed Harris’ character brings a noteworthy bag of associations with him. He states that his family, the Wilkinsons, were, as with the Gates, a family of long-association with American history. He states that his family can claim Albert Pike in its lineage. [Albert Pike was a Confederate general, operating in the western Confederacy in the vicinity of Arkansas/Tennessee. He was said to have allied with Choctaw and other Indian tribes in battles with the Union forces.]

Albert Pike was also a very important freemason, leading the Southern Jurisdiction of Scottish Rite Freemasony. He also formed with Giuseppe Mazzini, Baron Bismarck, Lord Palmerston, a sort of “supreme council” under the term “Palladian,” which has also been subsequently associated with Luciferianism. This is not surprising because Albert Pike wrote a letter to the British Brotherhood from Pike’s sick bed, stating that the faith which they held was Lucifer (god) and his plea that this be accepted was, indeed,  accepted upon a vote on the issue. Albert Pike also previously wrote a masonic book entitled, MORALS AND DOGMA in which he states the masonic case for Luciferian allegiance (and also devotes about 80 pages to the Jewish Cabala, which he credits with informing the masonic faith). Furthermore, Albert Pike was instrumental in the formation of the Ku Klux Klan, which is another secret society undoubtedly patterned to an important extent on those occult and secret forms that characterize masonry.

[As the sources from which these assertions were drawn may be "shakey," I ask readers to consider Mr. Koltko-Rivera's comment to this review. In all matters disagreements seem to arise. Hence, consideration of available evidence is essential to sound judgment.]

One of the interesting connections brought out in this film in regard to the Lincoln assassination was that of the Knights of the Golden Circle. In this film this secret organization was stated to be Southern in origin, and the implication was affirmed that the assassination of Lincoln was a desperate effort by Southerners to save the Confederacy. Whatever connection there may be with the Confederacy is unclear. However, the “KGC” seems to have twin elements not necessarily equally understood by members. One impell for the KGC was to further the “break up” of the U.S.A. and seems to be associated with British global strategy and British high finance, which was fearful of the implications of the Lincoln “greenback.” This element within the KGC is consistent with Adam Weishaupt’s strategy of a secret society within a secret society.

The second impell is the less secret one of halting the war and saving the Union by restoring the forms of the original Union and inviting the Southern States to lay down their arms and return to the Union, as before. There position seemed to be that Union and domestic peace were paramount considerations. Union by consent was thought more desirable than Union by force of arms. Therefore, ousting the Republicans from office was the most important single objective.

Both John Wilkes Booth and the Knights of the Golden Circle have been connected through Canada to England’s own masonic hierarchy. Furthermore, the Knights of the Golden Circle were stated in the Encyclopaedia Britannica to be “a semi-military secret society in the United States in the Middle West, 1861-1864, the purpose of which was to bring the Civil War to a close and restore the ‘Union as it was.’…The total membership of this order probably reached 250,000 to 300,000, principally in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin, Kentucky and south-western Pennsylvania. Fernando Wood of New York seems to have been the chief officer…” [Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Ed., Vol. 15, page 868].

Most people don’t perceive Lincoln and the Republicans as a “war party,” but that seems to be a fairly common view amongst Democrats, whether North or South.

Due to “historical management,” the general public does not get any information that is whole. Therefore, they are usually willing to accept the views expressed in their textbooks and even at the movies.

This film does bring into the conspiratorial picture a letter from Queen Victoria, implying her regimes meddling in American affairs [giving assistance to the South for purposes of hastening the division of the country]. However, the film does not bring out the apparent plan of the Vatican under Pope Pius X to assist the South.

Cages’ Ben Gates expresses great respect for Abraham Lincoln, stating approvingly that before Mr. Lincoln, the plural form “are” was used with “united States,” but that after Lincoln the singular “is” is employed. There is a sort of satisfied “he brought us together” concept in Ben Gates admiration. What he doesn’t bother to explain is how a president can change the Constitution by decree. Nor does he bother to explain the ramifications of government by executive decree, as opposed to legislative vote and lawful enactment.

For that matter no one has explained how states, which were not lawfully able to leave the Union, could be compelled to accept certain amendments in order to “rejoin” that very Union, which it is alleged they never left, because that Union was not dissolvable to begin with. Expediency is not to be overlooked in politics!

In short there were a lot of strange organizations, relationships, and events occurring about the time of Lincoln’s assassination. This is truly a rich vein of “historical gold” to be unearthed.

Putting aside the Lincoln matters, this film brings into the viewers mind the existence of an ancient, central American people, who appear to be related to the Mayan people, who built a “City of Gold.” They left shards of etched glyphs which provided tantalizing clues (to the handful of people conversant with the “dead language”). Fortunately for Ben Gates, his Mom is one of those handful of experts, and she is only a hop, skip, and a jump away (University of Maryland).

What is incredible to the learned moviegoer is the proposition that a central American people dragged a massive amount of gold to the lands of the Lakota for the purpose of constructing a “City of Gold” under rocky outcrops in the Badlands. Furthermore, they exhibit a cunning craft in the construction of this “underground city,”  including secret entrance-ways.

Additionally, although undoubtedly fierce warriors in their cultural domaine, does it make sense to fight your way through Aztecs, Shoshone, Commanche, Pueblos, Quapahs, and the great Lakota tribal groups (Sioux) to build one’s “City of gold?” It is crazy! No wonder they went extinct!

Perhaps such fantasy elements give this film what charm it has.

Other strange elements in this film’s puzzle include, the Statue of Liberty, HRM Resolute (ship), the “President’s Book,” and the “twins.” Speaking of twins, both the Gates family and the Wilkinson family seem twin victims of familial vainglory.  

The hightech master, Riley, does his usual tricks.

The I.R.S., F.B.I., and Secret Service, as well as plain old D.C. Metropolitan police are all briefly featured at one point or another, however remotely. Even Paris gendarmes and British “bobbies” get a moment to inform the film with authenticity. 

Even the President of the United States shows up for a meaningful colloquy with the determined Ben Gates. The moviegoer may notice with curiosity the apparently respectful, deferential Ben Gates in the presence of “great men,” even as he leaves a long trail of international crimes–mostly trespass, theft, and kidnapping. He operates on a higher moral level, such as family vanity, dontcha see? 

Finally, the Gates men and their women settle in for some TLC. All’s well that ends well!

 Of course, the moviegoer is left hanging on the mysterious “page 47.” Sequel approaching?

All rights reserved. Gobigfoot, 2007.