The Da Vinci Code

Like most people in the west I read Dan Browns "Da Vinci Code" a couple of years ago and throughly enjoyed it.

The plot, and the way it linked various conspiricy theories together were an eye opener.

I have been looking forward to the film for ages, Tom Hanks being a great actor and Ritchie Cunningham being a top director.

On the eve of the release of the film, the Thai Censor board bowed to the Facist Christian minority and issued a warning at the beginning of the film stating that the film was not a true story. They also proposed to cut the last ten minutes of the film.

Censorship in Thailand is very bizarre! Pornography, Smoking, drinking and bad lanquage are not allowed. You can show a group of Thai teens in a reality show based in an old Cambodian Death Camp being ripped to bits by ghosts which really pissed the Cambodians off. You can also show sickly sweet romantic flicks that should be banned.

The distributor of the film called the bluff and appealed stating that if the film was cut, they would pull the film from Thailand. Obviously a message was passed down and a few palms greased with silver, because an hour later the film was back on with only the disclaimer at the beginning.

After all this, the film wasn't that good anyway. It did not have the great story telling of the book, missing large swaves of the book out. Most of the characters portrayed themselves well, apart from Tom Hanks whose portrayal of Robert Langdon bordered on piss poor. So after all that I give the film 3/5 and the Thai Censor Board 5/5 for the forsight for money making.