Cannes triumph for Michael Moore
timesonline.co.uk
May 23, 2004
The Sunday Times
THE JURY of the Cannes film festival made an overtly political choice last night when it awarded the top prize to Michael Moore's scathing indictment of George Bush's administration and the war on Iraq.
It was the first documentary to win the prestigious Palme d'Or since Jacques Cousteau's The Silent World in 1956.
"What have you done? I'm completely overwhelmed by this. Merci," Moore said at the award ceremony.
Although Fahrenheit 9/11 was well received in Cannes, many critics felt it was inferior to Moore's previous Oscar-winning documentary Bowling for Columbine, which earned him a special prize at Cannes in 2002. Some critics speculated that Fahrenheit 9/11 won the top prize more for its politics than its cinematic value.
The controversial American director admitted as much when he collected the award. "I have a sneaking suspicion that you have done this to make sure that the simple American sees this film," he declared.
"I dedicate this film to all those suffering in Iraq," Moore added. "If it does nothing else, I think it will mean that those who have lost their lives in Iraq did not die in vain."
With his customary blend of humour and horror, Moore's cinematic diatribe lambasts the Bush camp for "stealing" the 2000 election, overlooking warnings before September 11 and fanning fears of terror in an effort to boost support for the war on Iraq.
It opens with the contested presidential election and moves on to September 11, exposing the relationship between the Bush and the Bin Laden families. The film then switches to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, with graphic footage of wounded Iraqis and prisoners being abused by US troops.
Moore appears on screen far less in Fahrenheit 9/11 than in Bowling for Columbine or his other documentaries. The film relies largely on interviews, footage of US soldiers and war victims in Iraq, and archive footage of Bush.
Moore's win capped a politically charged festival, with documentaries and films reflecting troubled times and French show business workers staging sit-ins to protest against cuts in their welfare benefits.
Fahrenheit 9/11 attracted huge publicity before the festival when Disney, the parent company of Miramax which produced the film, said it did not want to distribute the picture in an election year. Last night the director announced he had found a new distributor.
Thanking the jury, headed by the cult director Quentin Tarantino, Moore said: "You will ensure that the American people will see this movie . . . You have put a huge light on this." |
