Wednesday, May 17, 2006; Posted: 8:59 p.m. EDT (00:59 GMT)
(CNN) -- The long-awaited movie version of Dan Brown's best-seller "The Da Vinci Code" is entering the world to disapproval.
The opening salvos have come from journalists and movie critics, who screened the film Tuesday night, where it opened the 59th Cannes Film Festival. More trouble is coming from Christian groups in several countries, who are angry with the film's mix of fact and fiction involving Jesus Christ and Roman Catholicism.
At Cannes, one scene during the film, meant to be serious, elicited prolonged laughter from the audience, and when the credits rolled, there was no applause, only a few catcalls and hisses. Things were no better Stateside, where the film screened for critics in New York.
The Hollywood Reporter headlined its review, " 'Da Vinci Code' an unwieldy, bloated puzzle."
"No chemistry exists between the hero and heroine, and motivation remains a troubling sore point," wrote reviewer Kirk Honeycutt, panning Tom Hanks' "remote, even wooden performance." Only co-star Ian McKellen managed to avoid criticism.
Time magazine's Richard Corliss also takes digs at Hanks and director Ron Howard. The latter "seems propelled more out of duty than love for the project," Corliss wrote, while Hanks "seems to sleepwalk through the part."
Corliss, however, admires the film for not shying away from the book's more controversial assertions: "Beneath the chases and crashes, the chalices and cilices [hair shirts], it denies Jesus' divinity. ... And further still: the film challenges the belligerence that too often adheres to religious believers, the wars and atrocities perpetrated in His name."
For those who haven't read the book, "The Da Vinci Code" storyline proposes Mary Magdalene and Jesus were married, had a child, and that a powerful organization linked to the Church conspired to commit murder to keep it secret.
:::>^..^<::: ~*~The Journey is more important than the end or the start~*~ :::>^..^<:::
Those assertions are exactly the fuel that is igniting protests by Christian groups, some of which have already criticized the book.
Opus Dei, an influential Catholic organization that is one of "The Da Vinci Code's" villains, asked for a disclaimer to be added to the film. None was forthcoming.
On the Opus Dei Web site, the organization addresses the claims in the novel and movie, stating " 'The Da Vinci Code's' depiction of Opus Dei is inaccurate, both in the overall impression and in many details, and it would be irresponsible to form any opinion of Opus Dei based on 'The Da Vinci Code.'
"Those who do further research and exercise critical judgment will discover that assertions made in 'The Da Vinci Code' about Jesus Christ, Mary Magdalene, and Church history lack support among reputable scholars," the Web site statement said.
Although the leader of the Catholic Church, Pope Benedict XVI, has not voiced an opinion either way on the novel or the film, many Catholic Church officials have.
"I'm mystified by the popularity of it," said Father Joseph DiNoia, a Vatican official during an interview with CNN's Alessio Vinci.
"It has to do with the harm it does to people's faith, not the harm that it does to the [Catholic Church's] public image. It's something a lot more important."
Monsignor Robert Sarno, also a Vatican official, told Vinci he did not see the storyline as an attack on the Church.
"I just think it has been given a lot more truth value and faith value than it has," he said. "I just read it as an entertaining novel."
Author Brown himself does not purport that the novel or movie are historical or theological fact on "The Da Vinci Code's" Web site.
"This book is not anti-anything," he writes on the site. "It's a novel. I wrote this story in an effort to explore certain aspects of Christian history that interest me.
"The vast majority of devout Christians understand this fact and consider 'The Da Vinci Code' an entertaining story that promotes spiritual discussion and debate."
"If we have offended any Christians I would ask them to forgive us, which seems to be one of the main [tenets] in the New Testament," actor Paul Bettany, who plays Silas in the film, said with a smile during an interview with CNN's Brooke Anderson at Cannes Tuesday.
:::>^..^<::: ~*~The Journey is more important than the end or the start~*~ :::>^..^<:::
In India, the government Tuesday put a temporary hold on the movie's release because of complaints, The Associated Press reported.
In South Korea, which has 13 million Protestants and 4.6 million Roman Catholics, a court ruled Tuesday that a Christian group's request for an injunction to block screenings lacked merit. The Christian Council of Korea, an umbrella group of 63 South Korean Protestant denominations, said it respected the ruling but would lead a boycott of the movie, which it said defiles the sanctity of Jesus Christ and distorts facts, AP reported.
In mostly Hindu India, which is also home to 18 million Roman Catholics, Joseph Dias, head of the Catholic Secular Forum, began a hunger strike in downtown Mumbai and said other people were joining him.
"We want the movie to be banned," he said.
The film had been set for release in India on Friday and had already been cleared by the national censor board. But Information and Broadcasting Minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi said he put a temporary hold on the movie after receiving more than 200 complaints.
In Thailand, Columbia Pictures has appealed a ruling by government censors to cut the final 10 minutes of "The Da Vinci Code," police said, after Thai church leaders complained the film's content was insulting.
Philippine censors approved an adult rating for the movie but stopped short of rating it "X" because "it does not constitute a clear, express or direct attack on the Catholic church or religion" and does not libel or defame any person.
The movie-review panel's chairwoman, Marissa Laguardia, told The Associated Press that the movie would be a "test of faith" for many people in the predominantly Roman Catholic Philippines.
The National Council of Churches in Singapore, which also had requested a ban, planned lectures to refute aspects of the film and the book on which it is based. The censorship board gave the movie an NC16 rating, barring viewers under 16, arguing that "only a mature audience will be able to discern and differentiate between fact and fiction."
Also, while not planning a protest or boycott, members of the National Organization for Albinism and Hypopigmentation expressed unhappiness with the film's heavy, a monk-assassin, being an albino, as described in the book.
Michael McGowan, an albino who heads the organization, said "The Da Vinci Code" will be the 68th movie since 1960 to feature an evil albino. He said the group aims to use the movie's popularity to raise awareness about the realities of albinism. People with albinism have little or no pigmentation in their skin, eyes and hair.
After making its print debut in 2003, "The DaVinci Code" has since sold more than 60.5 million copies and has been translated into 44 languages.
Copyright 2006 CNN. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report.
:::>^..^<::: ~*~The Journey is more important than the end or the start~*~ :::>^..^<:::
And while these protestors are scraping up money to take a bus to the actual protest...the people involved with the movie will be smiling at them while taking their limo to the bank.
Some people really need to get a life and let the rest of us enjoy it.
Of course thats just my opinion....I could be wrong. (Dennis Miller)
"You might be the toughest little whacker. . .but in my world, you're about as worrisome as a cloudy day." (Dutch Dooley)
Yeah - the Vatican stuffed that one up - when that movie about Fox News came out, Outfoxed, News Ltd and all of Fox's people said nothin, and hence gave it no oxygen.
All the cardinals and priests and popes and whatever witchdoctors they get up in their purple gear have done by telling people it's evil and untrue (unlike the overwhelming evidence for the bible's claims of reincarnation and talking snakes and sex with chickens on the ark, or whatever) is to make people want to see it.
The protestors should put their energy into doing a car wash or bake sale to pay the judgements against the church for those collars who defiled young kids.
Just saying... bake sales rule Just odd how so many panties are in a twist over this yet little Bobby Bojangles is getting fiddled by a holy man and I don't so much as hear a peep. What good is going nuts over a piece of fiction that twists the word of God if so many people preaching and teaching said word aren't abiding by it in the first place.
05-18-2006 04:36 AM
You know what, you're sooooo right! I mean, it's expected to bring in about $80 million this weekend.
Just odd how so many panties are in a twist over this yet little Bobby Bojangles is getting fiddled by a holy man and I don't so much as hear a peep. What good is going nuts over a piece of fiction that twists the word of God if so many people preaching and teaching said word aren't abiding by it in the first place.
