Michael Moore's 'Fahrenheit 9/11' wins Palme d'Or

[Miss Modular]

http://movies.yahoo.com/cannes/news/...525912000.html

'Fahrenheit 9/11' Wins Cannes' Top Prize
Saturday May 22 1:52 PM ET


American filmmaker Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11," a scathing indictment of White House actions after the Sept. 11 attacks, won the top prize Saturday at the Cannes Film Festival.

"Fahrenheit 9/11" was the first documentary to win Cannes' 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 after getting a standing ovation from the Cannes crowd.

"Fahrenheit 9/11" won the top award from sharply divided Cannes moviegoers, who found a solid crop of good movies among the 19 entries in the festival's main competition but no great ones that rose to front-runner status.

While "Fahrenheit 9/11" was well-received by Cannes audiences, many critics felt it was inferior to Moore's Academy Award-winning documentary "Bowling for Columbine," which earned him a special prize at Cannes in 2002.

Some critics speculated that if "Fahrenheit 9/11" won the top prize, it would be more for the film's politics than its cinematic value.

With Moore's customary blend of humor and horror, "Fahrenheit 9/11" accuses the Bush camp of stealing the 2000 election, overlooking terrorism warnings before Sept. 11 and fanning fears of more attacks to secure Americans' support for the Iraq war.

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 U.S. soldiers and war victims in Iraq, and archival footage of Bush.

The best-actress award went to Maggie Cheung for her role in "Clean" as a junkie trying to straighten out her life and regain custody of her young son after her rock-star boyfriend dies of a drug overdose.

Fourteen-year-old Yagira Yuuya was named best actor for the Japanese film "Nobody Knows," in which he plays the eldest of four sibling raised in isolation, who must take charge of the family when their mother leaves.

The directing and writing prizes went to French filmmakers. Tony Gatlif won the directing honor for "Exiles," his road-trip about a couple on a sensual journey from France to Algeria.

Agnes Jaoui and her romantic partner, Jean-Pierre Bacri, won the screenplay award for "Look at Me," their study in self-image centering on an overweight young woman who feels neglected by loved ones. Jaoui and Bacri also co-star.

Thai director Apichatpong Weerasethakul's "Tropical Malady" widely regarded by Cannes audiences as a snoozer for its elongated scenes of a man wandering a jungle alone, with no dialogue won the festival's third-place jury prize.

Another jury prize went to Irma P. Hall for her role as an elderly Southern woman who foils a casino robbery in the Coen brothers' crime comedy "The Ladykillers," starring Tom Hanks as the heist's ringleader.

Keren Yedaya's "Or," about a Tel Aviv prostitute in failing health and her teenage daughter, won the Golden Camera award for best film by a first-time director. The U.S.-born Yedaya, who grew up in Israel, gives lectures about the problems of prostitution for government officials and mental-health professionals.

[Brandon]

An anti-Bush film winning critical acclaim in France? SHOCKING!

[El Blanco]

I really wish I could find the link for this, but the NY Daily News doesn't have it on their site for some reason.

Anyway, yesterday, they had a quote from some British film critic and he said how funny it was that the French hoighty toighty crowd are always saying how Americans are fat, loud mouthed, self important, and obnoxious like its a bad thing, and then reap the highest praise upon Michael Moore, the man who embodies all of these.

[ranxer]

and then reap the highest praise upon Michael Moore, the man who embodies all of these

haha, i think you skipped the most offensive quality that makes all the rest so annoying.. ignorance. moore lack of ignorance makes him an acception.

[El Blanco]

Ya, but I also left out the lying part when talking about Moore, so it evens out.

[mburbank]

Not that I don't think the film won as much for it's politics as for it's quality, but while Cnnes takes place in france, the Judges are a rotating panel. this year more than half were American or British.

[Royal Tenenbaum]

Yeah, the head of the jury was Tarantino, an AMERICAN! So you can't say it's the classic, well-founded, excellent hatred of America by the superior and brilliant French.

[El Blanco]

Hey, it wasn't me who said it. Although that ius pretty damn funny.

[Brandon]

Originally Posted by Royal Tenenbaum

Yeah, the head of the jury was Tarantino, an AMERICAN! So you can't say it's the classic, well-founded, excellent hatred of America by the superior and brilliant French.

Oh yeah, like the majority of Hollywood is any less hostile to Republican politics.

[Anonymous]

If only everyone would just wise up, right?

[Miss Modular]

Originally Posted by ArtificialBrandon

Oh yeah, like the majority of Hollywood is any less hostile to Republican politics.

Yeah, because Arnold Schwartzenagger, Charlton Heston, and Bruce Willis are huge, bleeding heart liberals.

[Brandon]

Originally Posted by Chojin

If only everyone would just wise up, right?

Just trying to put it in perspective. :/

Originally Posted by Miss Modular

Yeah, because Arnold Schwartzenagger, Charlton Heston, and Bruce Willis are huge, bleeding heart liberals.

That's just three people. Add Tom Seleck to that list and you've got the entire conservative population of Hollywood.

[mburbank]

Brittany Spears.
Ted Nugent.
Ronald Reagan. Except he's not in Hollywood and he doesn't know his head from his breakfast anymore.
That little kid who was in movies they trotted out at the Republican convention who doesn't act anymore and is probably ready to rob convenience stores at this point.
Mel Gibson.
All the country singers except the Dicksie Chicks and Travis Tritt and that guy who wrote the song about John Walker Lynd.
The owners of Disney and Fox

[Brandon]

Originally Posted by mburbank

Brittany Spears.
Ted Nugent.
Ronald Reagan. Except he's not in Hollywood and he doesn't know his head from his breakfast anymore.
That little kid who was in movies they trotted out at the Republican convention who doesn't act anymore and is probably ready to rob convenience stores at this point.
Mel Gibson.
All the country singers except the Dicksie Chicks and Travis Tritt and that guy who wrote the song about John Walker Lynd.
The owners of Disney and Fox

Ok, yeah, Nugent and Murdoch. Disney doesn't count because they're just soulless whores. Mel Gibson almost financed Moore's movie, so I don't know exactly what his politics are. Country singers aren't a part of the movie industry.

But Britney Spears?

[pjalne]

She once said something about not understanding everything that was going on in Iraq, but that everyone should support the president because he's the president.

[GADZOOKS]

Michale Moore is still a stinky fat pile of shit.

Or as you people would say, an induestrial size of Es Cargo

[AChimp]

Why don't you take up acting lessons, Brandon? I'm sure that Hollywood Conservatives are just waiting for you to come and represent.

[Brandon]

Originally Posted by AChimp

Why don't you take up acting lessons, Brandon? I'm sure that Hollywood Conservatives are just waiting for you to come and represent.

I'm not a conservative.

[Abcdxxxx]

Michael Moore and a whole mess of Asian films won. The judges chair always wields politics at Cannes. What impact does it have? Not much.
I just hope Cannes allows him to use the speech on the DVD so we don't have another 10 minute dramatic intepratation of a thirty second speech like the one he did in lieu of the Academy Awards acceptance.

[El Blanco]

Thats another thing that got me. We get ragged on for a violent culture( Michael Moore has done this) and yet they praise Tarentino and let him MC the damn film festival.

[Bobo Adobo]

Originally Posted by El Blanco

Thats another thing that got me. We get ragged on for a violent culture( Michael Moore has done this) and yet they praise Tarentino and let him MC the damn film festival.

According to Moore, violence in our society isn't caused by videogames, music, and movies.

I tend to agree with him on that point.

[Perndog]

According to Moore, violence in our society is caused by people owning guns.

I tend to call him a moron on that point.

[Sethomas]

Didn't he make a point to disprove that notion by showing Canadians to be just as gun-loving as we are?

[Bobo Adobo]

Yeah, but then he makes the uninformed moronic point of the NRA being heavily associated with the KKK. Not to mention going to Kmart and buying all those 9mm rounds, and defaming the corperation.

When it somes to gun control, it seems like Moore has two contradictng opinions.

[mburbank]

"Thats another thing that got me. We get ragged on for a violent culture( Michael Moore has done this) and yet they praise Tarentino and let him MC the damn film festival."

As my Father often told me when I was growing up, "If logic is what your looking for, try the "Principia Mathematica", it's excellent."