Relax, go see the movie tomorrow...Showtimes at SF Cinema City/MBK:

10:30
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Breaking News:
Censors reverse tack, Da Vinci Code approved

BANGKOK: -- The police censorship board has upheld the appeal of film distributors, and will allow The Da Vinci Code to be shown uncut and unchanged.

"The panel voted six to five to keep the movie as it is," said James Dhiraputra of Buena Vista International, the company which made the appeal.

Just one remnant remains of the censorship. Exhibitors must show a disclaimer at the start and end of the film stating that it is fiction. Christian groups have protested against its thesis that Jesus Christ married Mary Magdalene and had children.

The decision reverses a decision by the same board 24 hours previously, which ordered that the film's last 10 minutes be cut, and changes made to the subtitles and opening.

Protestant groups had urged that the film be banned or at least cut. The major Christian church in Thailand, the Catholics, have made no public comment on the controversial film.

According to Reuters, the evangelical Christian alliance which brought the censorship request accepted the final decison. "We respect the ruling," Thongchai Pradabchananurat, chairman of the Protestant Coordinating Committee told the news agency. "We have already expressed our feelings in this case and we will just have to forgive."

Foreign film critics, allowed to see the film for the first time today, just 24 hours before it opens in Thai theatres, roundly and apparently unanimously panned it.

Reuters reported that at a press screening late on Tuesday in Cannes, members of the audience laughed at the thriller's pivotal moment, and the end of the $125 million picture was greeted with stony silence.

"'Da Vinci' never rises to the level of a guilty pleasure. Too much guilt. Not enough pleasure," said Kirk Honeycutt of the Hollywood Reporter. Other critics agreed.

Lee Marshall of Screen International told the news agency: "I thought it was plodding and there was a complete lack of chemistry between Audrey Tautou and Tom Hanks."

For 24 hours, Thailand was the only country on Earth which agreed to censor the film. After the Tuesday decision by the film censorship board, the distributors appealed - and won.

Pol Maj Gen Somwong Lipiphun, who serves as chairman of the censorship committee, told reporters this evening that the film "can be screened without any cuts," a total reversal of Tuesday's censorship.

--Bangkokpost.com, Agencies 2006-05-17