In Brown's novel, the "Da Vinci code" refers to cryptic messages supposedly incorporated by Leonardo Da Vinci into his artwork.
More than 3 million copies (ed: now over 40 million) are in print. Special correspondent Alexandra Topping contributed to this report.The Da Vinci Code is a novel by Dan Brown that has held one of the top two or three places on best-seller lists since early summer. "We don't want an Oscar for being the nastiest people on Earth but for being the most friendly people on Earth." He said he believed the film's promoters wanted the publicity generated by "angry Christians carrying banners." Valero said Opus Dei officials were advising their members not to see the film but had not called for a general boycott or public protests. "It's an extraordinarily dull film," he said, "so maybe we shouldn't worry about it too much." Several Catholic leaders said that was unfair.īut Jack Valero, an Opus Dei spokesman in Britain, was not too concerned. "Common sense tells us that such a virulent reaction on the part of the church, combined with the studio's own marketing campaign, can only excite the curiosity of the faithful," the newspaper said.īrown's book and the film portray Opus Dei, a conservative lay Catholic organization, in an extremely negative light. The Russian newspaper Izvestia predicted that anger over the film would serve only to boost ticket sales. "Representatives from different religions have for the first time united to fight against expressions of modern culture that they find unacceptable," the newspaper Kommersant said in an editorial, expressing "solidarity" with both Christians and Muslims. In Russia, where the Orthodox Church has denounced the film as a "dangerous provocation" and warned of a possible violent backlash from Christians, some commentators linked the situation to the Muhammad cartoon protests.
IS THE DA VINCI CODE TRUE MOVIE
But in an interview, Leandri said he would not call for a boycott because the movie "really isn't worth worrying about - it's so far-fetched that no one will believe it."
In France, Monsignor Jean-Michel di Falco Leandri, bishop of the Hautes-Alpes region, said he saw the film Friday and found it a "grotesque" portrayal of history and Christian belief. Bishops across South America have decried the film, and leaders of China's official Catholic church have called for a boycott, although the country's notoriously strict censors allowed the film to be released uncut. The film's release in India was postponed while government officials considered complaints from the Catholic Bishops' Conference. Greek authorities banned the film for viewers under 17, saying it touched on "religious and historical questions of major importance that a minor is not able to evaluate." An Athens court rejected a religious organization's petition for an outright ban, citing freedom of expression. In the Philippines, which has Asia's largest Christian population, the city council of Manila, the capital, passed a resolution banning the film in local theaters. While Brown's book is a work of fiction, Jennings said, the film "muddles fact and fiction, upsetting people who have been Catholics all their lives who now don't know what is true and what is lies." That contention "ridicules and blasphemes" Christian beliefs, Jennings said. Many Christians are upset by a central theme of the book and film, that Jesus Christ and Mary Magdalene married and produced a child and that their bloodline continues to the present day. But they view the Catholic Church as a soft touch."
"My question to Dan Brown is this: Would he dare to write such a book about Islam?" said Peter Jennings, a spokesman for Nichols. But in that case, the anger led to weeks of violent demonstrations that left scores of people dead reaction to the worldwide opening of "The Da Vinci Code," which stars Tom Hanks, has consisted largely of calls for boycotts and denunciations by church leaders and commentators. Some said they saw parallels with Muslims' reaction to the publication of cartoons of the prophet Muhammad in European newspapers. "It deliberately presents fiction as fact." " 'The Da Vinci Code' gratuitously insults Jesus Christ and the Catholic Church," said Vincent Nichols, the Roman Catholic archbishop of Birmingham, England. LONDON, May 19 - Christians in many countries denounced the movie "The Da Vinci Code" as it opened Friday, complaining that the big-screen adaptation of Dan Brown's best-selling novel distorts history and offends Christians.
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