Captain Pike

It's silly to flame Moore's film because it's political or to flame the jury for giving the prize to Moore by accusing them of political motives. It's just as silly to say that politics played no part in the creation of the film or the award.

The fact of the matter is that art and politics have always been closely tied. Moore's film is nothing new. Political art has a history that goes back almost to the beginning of human representational expression.

I'm going to assume that the jury awarded the prize because F-9/11 was the best film they saw this year.

Shannon Nutt

Then it would have been a science-fiction film, not a documentary.

Seriously though, people tend to forget that he was equally hard on President Clinton when he was in office. Moore is an equal opportunity basher to the man who sits in the oval office.

CRM114

Yep. I remember an entire episode of The Awful Truth bashing then defense head, William Cohen. And through that series, Clinton was NEVER made out to be the best thing since sliced bread.

wendersfan

You might want to find a better example. William Cohen used to be a Republican Senator before he was Sec'y of Defense.

CRM114

Of course he was and its duly noted in the episode. Whats your point? He was still part of the Clinton administration and was the topic of the piece while serving under Clinton.

Moore also endorsed Alan Keyes for President - but only because he was the lone candidate to jump into the mosh pit. Of which Moore quipped: "He may be a right wing lunatic, but he's OUR right-wing lunatic!"

Cardiac161

I think it is great for Michael Moore to actually have the guts to come out with a film like this. Even if his film winning Cannes was blatantly political to some people, so what? It was decided by the Cannes jury to be a good, absorbing political movie.

Why is it that there are some people are so quick to label those who criticize the government as unpatriotic?

Unless you live in a dictatorial or socialist/communist state, constructive criticism of government has always been existent and freely expressed in most countries, whether in Europe or in Asia.

I myself have lived over a quarter of my life moving from the US to Australia to Japan, to Hong Kong, to the Philippines, to Canada and back to the US with my dad and all I can say is criticism of one's own government without persecution or unfair judgement is the best thing that can happen to a society.

wendersfan

My point was that using the fact that Moore went after Cohen probably isn't the best example to use if you want to argue that he's an equal opportunity critic. Cohen was a moderate Republican cabinet official in a moderate Democratic administration. I'm sure Moore has plenty of critical things to say about Democrats; he's a social critic and satirist at heart. However, until we have an administration as left-wing as Moore is, we'll never really be sure with how much gusto he'd go after his own. And I don't think we'll ever have an administration quite that liberal.

CRM114

Damn. You mean my dream of a Jerry Brown presidency won't come true? I was looking forward to a Cabinet full of turtlenecks.

chanster

I posted this in the other thread, but thought it was worth a post. This is all based on my research (my opinions are my own)

Its funny that you guys keep quoting - there were 4 Americans on the jury!

Who the hell cares? Do you want to know those 4 Americans were?

Kathleen Turner - One of the foremost liberal political actresses out there. Hasn't done shit since Serial Mom

Jerry Schatzberg - Hasn't done shit in a long time. Semi-retired from movies, but was known for his liberal balogny and bad films

Edwidge Danticat - U.S. Citizen but born in Haiti. Typical liberal college prof..here bio proudly claims "Trauma, love, sexuality and history also combine in Danticatís novels to critique a global feminist agenda. "

And of course, Quentin Tarantino, who has made his politics known plenty of times

MrN

I had mentioned the makeup of the jury when it was claimed that 'France' awarded the prize.

The political views of the jury is irrelevant - if you watched the press conference after the awards, Tarantino was adamant that the film won on its merit, not based on its politics.

wendersfan

Since I haven't seen the film my opinion can't be taken that seriously, but based on Moore's other work I can't see how the political content can be separated from the artistic value. Maybe I'm wrong.

exm

So... your point is exactly?

Dr. DVD

In Bowling for Columbine, there's a bit where Moore has montage of "What a Wonderful World" and in it there's a point where he puts some of the blame of the situations being depicted on the Clinton administration.

It's hard to say Moore has it out for one person. He tends to have it out for a lot of people. He does lean to the left, but if someone else leans too much on him, he'll shove back.


P.S. wmlopez is also the kind of user that calls a movie a "BOMB!!" if it doesn't open to the tune of $60 million or more.

Captain Pike

It can't and it shouldn't. Politics and art have and will continue to go hand in hand. This is nothing new.

Mad Dawg

It's true. Can anyone out there give a review on the quality of an Ann Coulter book without being affected by the content? Hardly. That doesn't mean that his award is undeserved, but to say politics played no role is probably pushing it.

inri222

http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle...D3F473206.html


France: 'Fahrenheit 9/11' Film Wins Top Award At Cannes Film Festival
Prague, 24 May 2004 (RFE/RL) -- The controversial U.S. writer and film director Michael Moore has been awarded the Cannes film festival's top prize, the Golden Palm, for his critical examination of U.S. President George W. Bush's administration.


Moore's film, called "Fahrenheit 9/11," claims that Bush stole the U.S. presidential elections of 2000 and that he has close business ties with relatives of Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. The film also is highly critical of the Bush administration for its invasion of Iraq and other policies since the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001.

Film director Quentin Tarantino, who was the president of this year's Cannes jury, announced the prestigious award late on 22 May."I have a sneaking suspicion, thanks to what [the Cannes Film Festival jurists] have done here and the response from everyone at this festival, you will ensure that the American people will see this movie." -- Michael Moore

Moore says Tarantino told him privately that the politics of "Fahrenheit 9/11" had nothing to do with the jury's decision. Moore says Tarantino whispered to him on stage that he was given the award because he had "made a great film."

The Walt Disney company, which provided funds to produce "Fahrenheit 9/11," recently told its Miramax unit not to distribute the politically charged documentary during a presidential election year in the United States. Disney officials have said that the partisan nature of the film could offend some viewers.

Moore has publicly accused Disney of censorship, alleging that the company is afraid of losing tax breaks in the state of Florida, where one of its main theme parks is located and where Jeb Bush, the brother of the U.S. president, is governor. Moore referred to the distribution controversy in his acceptance speech for the Golden Palm.

"It's been a rough few weeks because we've lost our American distributor. But I'm happy to announce that we have a distributor now in Albania. So now, every country in the world can see this film except one," Moore said.

But Moore said he hopes that winning the prestigious Golden Palm will help to get "Fahrenheit 9/11" distributed widely in the United States during the summer so that American voters have a chance to see the film and consider his criticisms of the Bush administration before the November elections.

"I have a sneaking suspicion, thanks to what [the Cannes Film Festival jurists] have done here and the response from everyone at this festival, you will ensure that the American people will see this movie. You've put a huge light on this. Many people want the truth to be put away -- to be put in the closet. And you've taken it out of the closet by this act," Moore said.

In Washington, White House spokeswoman Suzy DeFrancis attached little significance to the decision by the Cannes jury to honor the film. Speaking in a telephone interview with the French news agency AFP, DeFrancis said the United States is a great country because it is "a free country where everyone has the right to say what they want." DeFrancis said the Bush administration would not make any further comment about the film.

Strong anti-Bush sentiments were on display during the 22 May awards ceremony in Cannes. Belgian filmmaker Jonas Giernaert urged Americans to vote against Bush in November. British actor Tim Roth later told the audience before presenting an award that Giernaert was "extraordinarily brave," and repeated that Americans should not reelect Bush.

Josh-da-man

He has?

I never recall hearing him make any kind of political statements. In fact, the closest "political" thing I know about him is that he's not a member of the Director's Guild, which would tend to put him in a somewhat conservative or libertarian light.

Granted, I'm not someone who obsesses over the politics that film-makers or musicians espouse, so I don't really pay a lot of attention to these things.

DVD Smurf

I want peace on earth! And peace among us! I want to live happily and no more war... what is so bad about this? And I never thought an eye for an eye has been the civilized solution.

Cheers all

DVD Smurf

shoppingbear

You're kidding me, right? "Ruin it's credibility"? It's a CINEMA festival, not a "fact-finding documentary-checking festival", why would they CARE if it's half fictional?


Love this quote, and I totally agree. I might see this "documentary", I might not, but this is one award, and come on, will it really make a difference with mainstream America? I think not.

For the record, all the people who are saying "Oh it's the Evil French, the award is fixed", I don't agree. For all the people who are saying this somehow lends a new level of credence to Moore, I also don't agree. I know some people will dismiss this film because Moore made it (and anyone who checked the facts knows he fictionalized parts of "Bowling for Columbine", which irritated me; I wanted to take some of my right-wing friends, of which I'm NOT one, and they refused, dismissing the whole THING as fiction), and I know others will say it's true because Moore made it (which is even more ridiculous: since when does an openly-biased filmmaker deserve that kind of blind faith?). I hope people keep in mind that this is ONE MORE viewpoint, not the be-all-end-all of the discussion.

shoppingbear

Umm, who said the word "unpatriotic"? Don't recall reading that. Though, with all the veiled name-calling, I might've missed it...

shoppingbear

Well, the first step to fixing the problem is admitting you have it, good for you exm...

Seriously, this guy was just trying to bait you guys, I can't believe you guys bit! Don't dismiss all conservatives as simple just because this guy threw out obvious bait like this. Some of them are quite intelligent.

Shannon Nutt

I was personally thinking of his book "Stupid White Men" - he spent a chunk of the book going after Clinton and the Clinton administration.

Jaymole

Also, I've seen Moore on "Politically Incorrect" and he would bash the Clinton administration.

Obviously Moore would vote Democratic before Republican, but he's not too happy with them either.

CUBuffsMike41

Nice try, but no one here or anywhere else is shocked that he made a politically pointed movie. That was no one's point. The point was that the politics influenced the acceptance of the movie. Argue that it did or didn't, but don't try to make condescending, to-the-point comments that are totally irrelevant to the discussion at hand.

Who can blame them for giving an anti-Bush documentary the award? Or who can blame them for letting their politics influence the decision? Either way, you're agreeing with the people that are complaining that this movie might just not have gotten the word based on merit alone.

Newsflash, that's the whole point. The very left jury just so happened to give the award to an anti-Bush movie. And it's a Eurpoean festival in an area that is heavly anti-Bush. So it's pretty hard to swallow the claims that this award was given based on merit alone.

Believe it or not, we pretty much are the final world and authority on everything. Did you happen to notice how much power the UN had over the US' decision to invade Iraq?

Don't be so oblivious. Many people, including terrorists and Republicans, are trying to make a difference. You applaud Moore and these other people because they give your opinion a voice.

Exactly. It's politically motivated, and a polemic through and through. You're attempting to justify that, very pooly by the way, but in effect are substantiating all of the complaints about this film.

ckliffames1

Someone should do a documentary on him. Then we'll see the "real truth".