Three Jewish brothers have gone to court seeking a ban on Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ in France.
The trio - Patrick, Jean-Marc and Gerard Benlolo - asked a Paris judge to ban the controversial film, claiming it will incite violence against Jews.
The film has faced criticism for being anti-Semitic with accusations it blames Jews entirely for Jesus' death.
The French distributors of the film said there was no evidence it would cause public disorder.
Quinta Communications also said the brothers could not use religion as the basis for their argument and asked for the case to be thrown out.
During the hearing the judge and both parties decamped to a nearby cinema for a private showing of the film, which depicts the last 12 hours of Jesus' life.
"There is so much violent anti-Semitism in Europe that we cannot let this happen," said Patrick Benlolo.
In opposing the release of the film, the Benlolos submitted pages of quotes from US movie reviews, which the judge said would not be accepted as evidence.
The Passion of the Christ is due to open in France on Wednesday. The judge is likely to give his ruling on Monday. |