Saturday, 20. May 2006, 00:58:11
City of Manila bans ‘Da Vinci Code’
MOVIEGOERS in Manila may have to go to neighboring cities to watch “The Da Vinci Code” after the city council yesterday passed a resolution prohibiting the showing of the controversial movie.
The resolution said the movie, which was based on US author Dan Brown’s explosive novel, “is undoubtedly offensive and contrary to established religious beliefs which cannot take precedence over the right of the persons involved in the film to freedom of expression.”
The resolution, which was passed just hours before cinemas in Manila and other parts of the metropolis began showing the movie, cited a provision in the Revised Penal Code that made it “a crime to exhibit films which offend a religion.”
Unbelievable! Our nation's capital, in direct violation of separation of church and state and in diminution of the freedom of speech and expression, has banned the "controversial" movie
The Da Vinci Code for its supposed offensiveness to religious sensibilities. That tells us how fragile and weak the faith of the Catholic bullies who pressured the city council into restricting access to a mere Hollywood summer flick.
Meanwhile, in the same article the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB, actually a censorship committee) has given the Da Vinci Code a rating of R-18, effectively banning it from "family-oriented"
SM Malls which is the largest mall chain in the Philippines. The MTRCB's harsh rating for DVC is peculiar, since most other ratings board thought it was not 'R' material. The US-based Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) rates it as PG-13 for "disturbing images, violence, some nudity, thematic material, brief drug references and sexual content." Other countries have similarly given lenient ratings to the movie. The MTRCB's move may have been influenced by some of its radically conservative (and Catholic) members. The MTRCB is known for being too prudish even by local standards, banning exceptional films such as
Schindler's List and
The Piano. They were roundly ridiculed by the press and the public and their rulings were overturned by the president. It seems they've learned their lesson and are not banning films that are not explicitly NC-17. But with an R-18 ruling, it's almost as oppresive.
But what kind of message does an R-18 rating say to the public? That a film that depicts an alternate (and fanciful) view of history is too radical to be seen by minors? But no one seems to mind the fact that religious indoctrination is much worse, teaching impressionable young people that the murderous stories in the Bible are divinely inspired, that the lustful David and Solomon were men of virtue, that the incredible stories of talking snakes and donkeys are true, that a poor Jewish preacher had to be tortured and killed to appease the anger of a vindictive deity, and that we are all damned to eternal suffering if we even doubted any of these tall tales. Sir Ian Mckellen, who played the role of Leigh Teabing in DVC, says it bluntly,
"I've often thought the Bible should have a disclaimer at the front saying 'This is fiction.' I mean walking on water? I mean, it takes an act of faith."
The bible should have a disclaimer not only for its fictive narratives but for the sheer violence and evil found in its pages. As Thomas Paine rightly quipped, "The Bible: a history of wickedness that has served to corrupt and brutalise mankind." If the MTRCB feels that DVC ought to be restricted to adults for its "controversial" content, so should the bible. It is a form of child abuse, to
paraphrase Richard Dawkins, a professor of biology and popularizer of science.
So, will I watch DVC? Of course, after
having read the book last year, I said to myself, this would be a pretty good movie even though the book itself is not so good. My Catholic girlfriend also wants to watch DVC and she has read the book too. But with the movie banned in SM malls, we might have to scour the other malls to see if any of them has not withered from the moralizing crusade of Catholic groups.
1) I watched The Bourne Ultimatum. And it's probably the best movie in the trilogy. I really like the series, and I think Matt Damon gives a convincing performance for the main protagonist. I highly recommend this film, but only if you've already seen the first two flicks.
