The main focus of the movie entitled “The Name of the Rose” is the realization that there are secrets of the library in the monastery that are being protected at a terrible cost. There is an underlying media censorship all throughout the film as the news of less than ten monks who died mysteriously erupted. There is a continuous and deadly protection of secrets that are related to the beliefs and principles of the monks living in the monastery which is the subject of the film.
In other words, dark secrets of the monastery based on religious legend and cold facts must not be disclosed at all costs. The film was based on a book with the same title which is basically tackling issues related to unholy murder. The apocalyptic terror was brought out by the death of seven monks, the reason of which is to protect secrets found in the library of the monastery. The mysterious murder cases of the seven monks were investigated by a monk named William of Baskerville aided by his apprentice named Adso of Melk.
Both investigators uncover the gruesome deaths of the monks despite the opposition of the religious leaders found in the monastery. The unwelcome attention of the investigation made us realize that there are more pressing and questionable issues found in the monastery that must be censored no matter what. The reason behind that said media censorship is to give justice to the fact that the monks living in the said monastery believed in God but they traded with the devil (Lazenby 1).
The cases inside the monastery represent unholy murder that discards the idea that the people involved in it are not really serving God, but serving their own selfish desires under the guise of religion. In addition, the series of murders are related to the unusual behavior of the scribes in the library of the monastery. It was found out that these scribes are dedicated to transcribe ancient manuscripts that are kept secret for a long time. The freedom to give information and to share secular knowledge is withheld by the head monk of the library for reasons that are beyond the imagination of ordinary people.
But the investigator monk named William of Baskerville and his assistant were able to solve the mystery through wit and intelligence. In the forbidden principal tower of the monastery, a multiple level library is found therein, containing the sole remaining manuscript of Aristotle’s Second Book of Poetics, which is suspected to be related to the murder of seven monks. As the film unfolds its mysterious saga, it was found out that indeed, the secrets in the library caused the death of the seven monks.
William of Baskerville and his young assistant were able to penetrate the famous library and found there the oldest monk in the monastery. He revealed the fact that a book was kept in the library, that is worthy of protection since it contains blasphemous facts and knowledge in contrast to the ways of Christ. The oldest monk was aware of the probing gesture of the two investigators so that, he allowed the whole library to be burned. The young assistant of William was able to escape while the ancient monk died because of the fire.
William of Baskerville miraculously escaped the fire and was able to bring some books as evidences of the cases, thereby ending the long media censorship in the mysterious monastery. The medieval setting of the movie that presents censorship of the media is also a reflection of the media at present. There are more mysterious facts that are kept secrets by many religious groups and political organizations that affect the right to information and the freedom of the press.
Hence, I think that there is censorship in the media nowadays no matter how active the people may be in terms of collecting news and relevant information. All people deserve to know the truth of myriad mysterious cases in the society that might affect their security. Therefore, it is not positive that there is media censorship today. Works Cited Lazenby, Aaron. “The Name of the Rose”. 2004. Film Critic. 28 January 2009 < http://www. filmcritic. com/misc/emporium. nsf/reviews/The-Name-of- the-Rose >.