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Early viewers pan 'Da Vinci Code'

Film's release also provokes widespread protests

Audrey Tautou and Tom Hanks star in the film version of "The Da Vinci Code," due May 19.

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CANNES, France (CNN) -- A mixture of fiction, fact and faith, "The Da Vinci Code" has made its worldwide film debut, opening the Cannes Film Festival -- but while the book was a mega-selling hit, the critics largely panned the cinematic version.

The highly anticipated drama was screened Tuesday night at the 59th Cannes Film Festival for hundreds of journalists from around the world.

The opening comes as anger over the film escalates with Christian groups from South Korea, Thailand, Greece and India planning boycotts, a hunger strike and other attempts to block or shorten screenings.

Despite requests from Opus Dei, there was no disclaimer added to the beginning of the movie stating the film is a work of fiction.

Opus Dei is the small but influential group within the Catholic Church who feel they are vilified in author Dan Brown's story.

After making its print debut in 2003, "The DaVinci Code" has since sold more than 60.5 million copies and has been translated into 44 languages.

The movie did receive some lukewarm praise, but the majority of the response was highly critical.

One scene during the film, meant to be serious, elicited prolonged laughter from the audience. There was no applause when the credits rolled; instead, a few catcalls and hisses broke the silence.

The Hollywood Reporter headlined its review, " 'Da Vinci Code' an unwieldy, bloated puzzle."

"No chemistry exists between the hero and heroine, and motivation remains a troubling sore point," wrote reviewer Kirk Honeycutt, panning Tom Hanks' "remote, even wooden performance." Only co-star Ian McKellen managed to avoid criticism.

"The Da Vinci Code" storyline proposes Mary Magdalene and Jesus were married, had a child, and that a powerful organization linked to the Church conspired to commit murder to keep it secret.

Although the leader of the Catholic Church, Pope Benedict XVI, has not voiced an opinion either way on the novel or the film, many Catholic Church officials have.

"I'm mystified by the popularity of it," said Father Joseph DiNoia, a Vatican official during an interview with CNN's Alessio Vinci.

"It has to do with the harm it does to people's faith, not the harm that it does to the [Catholic Church's] public image. It's something a lot more important." (Watch what the 'Code's' attraction is -- 3:09)

Monsignor Robert Sarno, also a Vatican official, told Vinci he did not see the storyline as an attack on the Church.

"I just think it has been given a lot more truth value and faith value than it has," he said. "I just read it as an entertaining novel."

Criticism by Opus Dei

On the Opus Dei Web site, the organization addresses the claims in the novel and movie, stating " 'The Da Vinci Code's' depiction of Opus Dei is inaccurate, both in the overall impression and in many details, and it would be irresponsible to form any opinion of Opus Dei based on 'The Da Vinci Code.' "

"Those who do further research and exercise critical judgment will discover that assertions made in 'The Da Vinci Code' about Jesus Christ, Mary Magdalene, and Church history lack support among reputable scholars," the Web site statement said.

Author Brown himself does not purport that the novel or movie are historical or theological fact on "The Da Vinci Code's" Web site.

"This book is not anti-anything," he writes on the site. "It's a novel. I wrote this story in an effort to explore certain aspects of Christian history that interest me.

"The vast majority of devout Christians understand this fact and consider 'The Da Vinci Code' an entertaining story that promotes spiritual discussion and debate."

"If we have offended any Christians I would ask them to forgive us, which seems to be one of the main tenements in the New Testament," actor Paul Bettany, who plays Silas in the film, said with a smile during an interview with CNN's Brooke Anderson at the Cannes Film Festival Tuesday.

Bans, protests, boycotts

Protest was brewing in several countries.

In India, the government Tuesday put a temporary hold on the movie's release because of complaints, The Associated Press reported.

In South Korea, which has 13 million Protestants and 4.6 million Roman Catholics, a court ruled Tuesday that a Christian group's request for an injunction to block screenings lacked merit. The Christian Council of Korea, an umbrella group of 63 South Korean Protestant denominations, said it respected the ruling but would lead a boycott of the movie, which it said defiles the sanctity of Jesus Christ and distorts facts, AP reported.

In mostly Hindu India, which is also home to 18 million Roman Catholics, Joseph Dias, head of the Catholic Secular Forum, began a hunger strike in downtown Mumbai and said other people were joining him.

"We want the movie to be banned," he said.

The film had been set for release in India on Friday and had already been cleared by the national censor board. But Information and Broadcasting Minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi said he put a temporary hold on the movie after receiving more than 200 complaints.

In Thailand, Columbia Pictures has appealed a ruling by government censors to cut the final 10 minutes of "The Da Vinci Code," police said, after Thai church leaders complained the film's content was insulting.

Philippine censors approved an adult rating for the movie but stopped short of rating it "X" because "it does not constitute a clear, express or direct attack on the Catholic church or religion" and does not libel or defame any person.

The movie-review panel's chairwoman, Marissa Laguardia, told The Associated Press that the movie would be a "test of faith" for many people in the predominantly Roman Catholic Philippines.

The National Council of Churches in Singapore, which also had requested a ban, planned lectures to refute aspects of the film and the book on which it is based. The censorship board gave the movie an NC16 rating, barring viewers under 16, arguing that "only a mature audience will be able to discern and differentiate between fact and fiction."

Also, while not planning a protest or boycott, members of the National Organization for Albinism and Hypopigmentation expressed unhappiness with the film's heavy, a monk-assassin, being an albino, as described in the book.

Michael McGowan, an albino who heads the organization, said "The Da Vinci Code" will be the 68th movie since 1960 to feature an evil albino. He said the group aims to use the movie's popularity to raise awareness about the realities of albinism. People with albinism have little or no pigmentation in their skin, eyes and hair.

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