 
Michael Moore's new incendiary documentary won the Palme d'Or today at the Cannes Film Festival in America-hating France. (Associated Press photo, left; AFP photo, right)
'Fahrenheit 9/11' takes top prize at Cannes
Michael Moore's new documentary, "Fahrenheit 9/11," which Reuters describes as "a savage indictment of President Bush's handling of Iraq and the war on terror," won the Palme d'Or, the top prize at the Cannes Film Festival, today.
Reuters reports that "Fahrenheit 9/11" "focuses on how America and the White House reacted to the September 11, 2001, hijacking attacks and traces links between the Bush family and prominent Saudis, including the family of Osama bin Laden. It then switches to the war in Iraq, with graphic footage of Iraqi wounded and prisoners being abused by American troops."
First, Disney refuses to allow its subsidiary, Miramax, to distribute "Fahrenheit 9/11" (because the film dares to tell the awful truth; Disney suggests that it's all about family films, but one of Miramax's recent releases is "Kill Bill, Vol. 2," which, although a great movie, is hardly a family pic).
Then, "Fahrenheit 9/11" takes the top prize at Cannes.
Given this kind of pre-release publicity, which you couldn't buy, "Fahrenheit 9/11" is going to kick ass in the United States this summer, when Moore expects it to be released, just in time for the fall presidential election season.
The Associated Press notes that "'Fahrenheit 9/11' was the first documentary to win Cannes' prestigious Palme d'Or since Jacques Cousteau's and Louis Malle's 'The Silent World' in 1956."
Moore's last big smash, "Bowling for Columbine," has grossed $120 million worldwide, making it the highest-grossing documentary film of all time, and was awarded Best Documentary for 2002 at the Academy Awards in March 2003, shortly after the illegal, immoral, imperialistic and unprovoked U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. Moore's acceptance speech, during which he criticized "President" Bush and Gulf War II, was controversial (because he broke the national taboo of speaking the awful truth), but more than a year later -- with thousands of people pointlessly dead, not a single weapon of mass destruction discovered in Iraq, and Dick Cheney's Halliburton and other subsidiaries of BushCheneyCorp billions and billions of dollars richer thanks to U.S. taxpayers -- Moore has been validated.
"Freedom fry"-eating right-wingers predictably will point out that the Cannes Film Festival is held in France, so of course the Frenchies gave Moore the top prize in their little film festival.
The Associated Press notes that Moore, making a truly pre-emptive strike, "said after the ceremony that he expected right-wing media outlets in the United States to characterize his prize as an award from the French, whose government opposed the U.S.-led war on Iraq. He noted that the nine-person Cannes jury that awarded prizes had only one French member and four Americans, including jury president Quentin Tarantino and actress Kathleen Turner.
"Many Americans now realize the French are 'good friends of America who tried to do the right thing and tell us this was the wrong road,' Moore said. 'We owe the people of this country an apology for the way they were debased and treated in our media.'"
Yeah, we Americans owe lots of people lots of apologies for having allowed the Bush regime first to steal power and then to shamelessly abuse it. (My observation is that once they saw how relatively easy it was to get away with stealing a fucking presidential election, the members of the Bush regime figured that they could get away with anything.)
Anyway, I saw Moore when he came here to Sacramento during the opening weekend of "Bowling for Columbine" for benefit screenings. He spoke briefly before the film began and then stayed for a question-and-answer session after the film. I've e-mailed him to see if he'll come to Sacramento again with "Fahrenheit 9/11." The historic Sacramento art house where he appeared with "Bowling for Columbine" is in danger of being closed down, and Moore, whose generosity I have witnessed myself, likes to help a good cause.
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