Pirated ‘Da Vinci Code’ DVDs sprouting all over

BUTUAN CITY — Amid debates on whether the film should be banned, pirated DVDs of "The Da Vinci Code" are selling like hot cakes in this city and other parts of the country, five days before the controversial thriller officially hits the theaters.

Vendors selling pirated digital and video compact discs who have suddenly sprouted along the city sidewalks told The STAR that Hollywood’s version of the best-selling novel of Dan Brown is the most sought by movie lovers.

Initially hesitant to talk, vendors eventually revealed that they constantly have to order more copies from Metro Manila or elsewhere as their stocks easily run out due to the unusually high demand for the DVDs.

Movie buff Evangeline del Valle, an accountant and professor, told The STAR that she and her family have switched to buying pirated DVDs and VCDs because they are affordable and usually come out days or weeks ahead of a film’s theater release.

Del Valle’s companion, college teacher Honey Mordero, said she and many of her friends have already seen "The Da Vinci Code" on pirated DVD.

Brown’s novel depicts Jesus as marrying Mary Magdalene and having children with her.

The Vatican has called for a boycott of the movie version. In Manila, Archbishop Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales denounced the movie as blasphemous but stopped short of echoing Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita’s call for the film to be banned.

Theaters in the Philippines have been advertising that the movie will start screening on May 18, although Movie and Television Review and Classification Board has yet to decide whether the movie can be shown.

For its part, the Catholic Bishop’s Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) 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 predominantly Catholic country against watching the "The Da Vinci Code," which it said purveys "erroneous impressions of some fundamental truths of the Christian faith".

Movie pirates in Metro Manila, however, expect to rake in the profits if the movie is banned.

"Kung hindi ipapalabas iyung ‘The Da Vinci Code,’ sa amin pupunta ang mga tao (If it gets banned, more people will buy from us)!" a vendor exclaimed.

Vendors in Metro Manila are already taking advantage of the "The Da Vinci Code" craze by repackaging a documentary film on Brown’s novel as what may first seem like the movie version.

The DVDs, which are pirated copies from Malaysia, attract buyers who may confuse it with the Hollywood made film starring award-winning Tom Hanks as its cover has photos taken from the film’s trailer. Each DVD sells for P70.

The film is actually titled the "Origins of the Da Vinci Code," an 80-minute documentary by Michael Bott on how Brown came out with the controversial novel. Copies of these are being sold in Quiapo and Sta. Cruz districts in Manila.

According to Muslim vendors, the copies were smuggled from Malaysia through the southern backdoor.

Maranaw vendor Nardo, who owns three stalls in Butuan City, said he also had sold before copies of a documentary film on "The Da Vinci Code." — With Perseus Echeminada