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Monday, May 15, 2006
'Da Vinci' pirated CDs popular in Caraga
By Ben Serrano
Caraga correspondent
BUTUAN CITY -- Even if the controversial film "The Da Vinci Code" gets banned from public showing, pirated CD enthusiasts in Caraga Region already secured their own copies for home use.
Sidewalk vendors selling pirated DVDs and VCDs said the movie, which stars Tom Hanks, Jean Reno, and Audrey Tautou who plays French cryptologist Sophie Neveu, is selling like hot cakes here.
Majority of the vendors interviewed, who were hesitant at first, said they were forced to order new stocks from Manila or elsewhere to meet demands.
Maranaw vendor Nardo who owns three stalls said an earlier version of "The Da Vinci Code" is a documentary film depicting a British Broadcasting Co. (BBC) television documentary showing a little unknown village in south of France.
According to the documentary an impoverished priest, Fr. Sauñere lives and served there and become a millionaire after uncovering a treasure, which supposedly turned out to be a well kept secret protected by a society called the "Priory of Sion."
BBC documentary film scriptwriter Dr. Henry Lincoln, co-author of another best selling novel "In Search of the Holy Blood, Holy Grail" of which the Da Vinci Code hypothesis is said to be based, replied that Fr. Sauñere's wealth didn't come from any treasure but from a well guarded secret that may stun the Christian world.
Accounting professor Evangeline del Valle, a movie enthusiast, said since pirated CDs are affordable and weeks ahead of movies shown in theaters they are being patronized.
Del Valle's companion, another college teacher Honey Mordeno, said she and many other friends already saw the movie via pirated DVDs.
In the movie, Tom Hanks plays Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon who, while vacationing in Paris, receives an urgent late night phone call about the murder of an elderly curator inside the Louvre Museum.
Langdon then follows a series of clues hidden in the works of Leonardo Da Vinci -- clues visible for all to see yet disguised by the famous painter.
In the documentary film narrated by Dr. Henry Lincoln with other academicians, they suggested that the secret society, "Priory of Sion", whose members include Da Vinci and King Dagobert, came from a direct line leading to Jesus who allegedly married Mary Magdalene.
Catholic Church leaders in the country refused to join calls to ban the movie version of Dan Brown's controversial best selling novel.
The Catholic Bishop's Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) instead opted to address the challenges the movie and novel might pose to the two-millennium old Catholic faith.
The CBCP issued a pastoral statement warning the faithful about the "The Da Vinci Code" which it said purveys "erroneous impressions of some fundamental truths of the Christian faith."
(May 15, 2006 issue)
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