posted June 21, 2007 02:50 AM
http://film.guardian.co.uk/news/story/0,,2106445,00.html?gusrc=rss&feed=16
Da Vinci Code 'broke Italian obscenity laws'
Staff and agencies
Tuesday June 19, 2007
Guardian Unlimited
The film version of the Da Vinci Code film is to be investigated for allegedly breaking Italian obscenity laws more than a year after its release.
The state prosecutor's office in Civitavecchia, 40 miles north of Rome, said yesterday it was opening a criminal investigation into the adaptation of the Dan Brown bestseller, which was a huge commercial hit last year, following a complaint from a group of Catholic clergy earlier this year.
The complaint claims the Da Vinci Code, which suggests Jesus Christ and Mary Magdalene were married and had children, breaks article 528 of Italy's penal code, which centres on obscenity on religious grounds. It names ten people, including Brown and director Ron Howard. The move means the film will have its day in court, in the seaside village of Civitavecchia, which is close to where the complaint was filed.
If found guilty, the defendants face up to three years in jail and an unlimited fine. They cannot be extradited for the charges but can be arrested if found on Italian soil. This could prove to be unfortunate timing for Howard, who is about to arrive in Italy to work on Angels and Demons, the film adaptation of another Brown bestseller, according to the Reuters news agency.
Asked why the case was being opened now, some 13 months after the film debuted at last year's Cannes Film Festival, an official at the Civitavecchia state prosecutor's office said he wasn't sure. "I don't know," the official told Reuters. "Maybe they [the clergy who brought the complaint] have just seen the film."
Upon its release last year, the Da Vinci Code movie attracted enormous controversy among religious groups opposed to its unorthodox depiction of the life of Christ. Pakistan and an Indian state banned the movie from cinemas, claiming it was blasphemous, while Christian groups called for boycotts of the film and China pulled the film from cinemas after three weeks.
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian News and Media Limited 2007
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Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year....
The only other sound's the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.
The woods are lovely, dark, and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep. ~Robert Frost