It would not take an expert cryptographer to discern the true mission of the train that rolled out of London Waterloo on Tuesday night bound for the Cannes film festival. Though the train — named the Da Vinci Code, and carrying Tom Hanks, Ian McKellen and Audrey Tatou — was apparently trying to break the world record for the longest international non-stop rail journey, some suggested it was little more than a glorified publicity machine.
But even if the train breaks the record, the film seems to be in for a rougher ride when it receives its world premiere at the festival on Wedensday night. Christian groups in countries as far away as South Korea, Thailand and India are infuriated by Dan Brown’s bestseller, which has been transferred to the screen by the director Ron Howard. They say the plot — which suggests that the church has been involved in a conspiracy to cover up the the fact that Jesus and Mary Magadalene married and had children — is blasphemous.
India has put a temporary hold on the film’s release because of complaints, but in South Korea, which is home to 13-million Protestants and 4,6-million Catholics, a court on Tuesday ruled against a Christian group’s request for an injunction to block screenings. ”As it is clear that the novel and movie are all fiction … there is no probability that the movie can make viewers mistakenly believe the contents of the movie are facts,” said chief judge Song Jin-hyun.
The Christian Council of Korea said it respected the ruling but would lead a boycott of the movie, which, it said, defiled the sanctity of Jesus Christ.
In Thailand, Christian groups demanded that government censors cut the film’s final 15 minutes, alter subtitles that are supposedly disrespectful to Jesus and screen messages before and after the movie to stress its content is fictional.
In Bombay, Joseph Dias, the head of the Catholic Secular Forum, began a hunger strike and said other people were joining him. ”We want the movie to be banned,” he said. Despite being predominantly Hindu, India also has 18-million Roman Catholics. Christians are not the only ones to be offended by the film. An albino group in the US is also angry because their condition has yet again been used as shorthand for villainy. One of the Da Vinci Code‘s most memorable character is the monk-assassin Silas, an albino, who carries out a series of murders to secure the secret of the Holy Grail. ”Silas is just the latest in a long string,” said Michael McGowan, of the National Organisation for Albinism and Hypopigmentation. ”The problem is there has been no balance. There are no realistic, sympathetic or heroic characters with albinism that you can find in movies or popular culture.” – Guardian Unlimited Â