MOVIES - Nov. 3, 1988

Now some Brazilians are saying “no” to “The Last Temptation of Christ.” The country’s largest cinema chain won’t show the much-brouhahaed Martin Scorsese film after the archbishop of Rio de Janeiro said he would take no responsibility for acts against either the film or its patrons. Archbishop Eugenio de Araujo Sales has called the film “blasphemous and pornographic. . . . It cruelly assaults the feelings and intimate convictions of millions of people.” A spokesman for Brazil’s second largest cinema chain, Art Filmes, said the company would show the film but only for people over 18. The film, which was recently banned in Israel and South Africa and was the catalyst for violence in France, was scheduled to open in Rio on Nov. 17 or 24, a spokeswoman for its Brazilian distributor said.