Proof in Exploration

Now what if someone presented a proof so authentic it could disprove you widely-held belief that your lineage was not as honorable as you believe it to be?

My family and I watched National Treasure: The Book of Secrets today. While it lacked in the story depth department, its adventure outside the United States, looking for clues to the Great Book of Secrets just make up for its shortcomings.

From Wikipedia:

Five days after the end of the Civil War, John Wilkes Booth and another man, both members of the Knights of the Golden Circle, enter a tavern and approach Thomas Gates (Ben Gates' great-great grandfather). They produce a diary containing an encrypted message, and entice Thomas, a well-known puzzle solver, to decode it. Thomas recognizes the message as using the Playfair cipher and begins to translate it. While he does so, Booth leaves for Ford's Theater to assassinate President Lincoln. Thomas solves the puzzle, a clue to a treasure map, and realizes the men are still loyal to the Confederate cause and have a sinister motive for finding the treasure, unfortunately he realizes this too late. The Confederate man pulls a gun on him, threatening to shoot him if he does not hand over the diary, however he is distracted from Thomas by the chaos erupting in the bar over news of Lincoln's assassination. Thomas rips several pages from the diary and throws them in the fireplace. The second man shoots him and attempts to retrieve the pages, only succeeding in saving a small piece. The dying Thomas gasps, "The war is over," but the man disagrees, stating, "You're wrong about that, the war has only just begun," and rushes from the bar. With his final breath, Thomas tells his young son Charles, "The debt that all men pay."

Years later, Ben Gates is telling his great-great grandfather's story at a conference on Civilian Heroes to great acclaim until black market dealer Mitch Wilkinson shows one of the eighteen missing pages of John Wilkes Booth's diary, with Thomas Gates' name on it, convincing everyone that Thomas was the mastermind behind the Lincoln assassination. Ben sets out to prove the innocence of his great-great grandfather.

Also:

The following sites appear in the film:

• Mount Rushmore
• The Library of Congress
• the Paris replica of the Statue of Liberty near Grenelle Bridge
• White House
• Buckingham Palace
• Mount Vernon
• Ford's Theatre
• University of Maryland, College Park
• Custer State Park, South Dakota

As you can see, the film's popularity was already built up by its predecessor's success. Indeed, if you haven't seen it, do so, so that you can form a clear view of what really happened prior to the start of this film.

I enjoyed it, but to be honest, I'm not much of a history buff. That's my father's forte. I'm still in the period of amassing vast amounts of knowledge.