MANILA, 18 May 2006 — Ignoring calls for a ban, the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB) approved yesterday the showing of the controversial film “The Da Vinci Code” in Philippine theaters.
MTRCB Chair Consoliza La Guardia said the members of the board did not see anything that would merit the banning of the film.
“I don’t think it (showing of the movie) will have any adverse affect on our religion,” she said. “Its mainly an entertainment movie, a suspense thriller.”
La Guardia said that those groups who were lobbying against the showing of the movie can always urge people not to watch it. “It’s their choice, they can always persuade their friends not to watch the movie,” she said.
The board, instead, rated the movie R-18 — which means only those above 18 years old are allowed to watch it — saying that the “thematic, verbal and visual content of this fictionalized drama-thriller, from an over-all perspective, requires mature discernment.”
“This needs adult maturity to distinguish fact from fiction and discern good from evil,” it said.
“Although some critical issues are raised on generally accepted Catholic or Christian dogma, neither does this movie libel or defame any living or dead person,” the board added.
While only adults are allowed to watch in public theaters, many Filipinos of all ages are likely to catch the movie on pirated DVDs.
Some younger Filipinos were angry at what they saw as faith intruding on entertainment.
“Something such as religion should not be a standard for whether we should let movies be played,” said Peterson Poon, 16. “It annoys me that I have to buy a DVD.”
“What’s the point of making it R-18? There’s always the book,” said Marion Panlasigui, a 17-year-old student.
Manila’s hawkers have already started flogging a documentary on “The Da Vinci Code” as the real movie, ahead of the world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in France on May 17 and its launch in the Philippines.
The film, distributed by Sony Pictures Entertainment, is expected to be shown around the world with a PG-13 rating, meaning that teenagers can watch it and children under 13 have to be accompanied by an adult.
President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s chief aide, Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita, and several Romand Catholic bishops had condemned the movie, which is based on the book of Dan Brown, as blasphemous.
The movie, starring Oscar-winning actor Tom Hanks, is set to be screened tomorrow in the Philippines, a bastion of Catholicism in Asia, amid a global controversy over its story line.
It says Jesus Christ married the biblical character Mary Magdalene and started a sacred bloodline that still exists in secret.
The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) said it respects the decision of the MTRCB.
“We are confident that they studied the movie very well,” Monsignor Pedro Quitorio, CBCP spokesman said.
But Bishop Deogracias Iñiguez, head of the Episcopal Commission on Public Affairs, called on the film’s producer to explain that the movie is neither historical nor religious but a fiction.
“This issue is still not clear to a number of Filipinos,” he said.
Quitorio echoed the CBCP’s confident position that the Hollywood film based on American author Dan Brown’s best-selling novel “won’t have a damaging effect on the faithful.”
“Faith is bigger than the movie,” he said.
In 1988 the government banned the film “The Last Temptation of Christ” also over its views on Christianity. (With reports from agencies)
