Moore’s ‘Fahrenheit 9/11’ ignites Cannes

CANNES, France – Michael Moore lit the powder keg he promised at the Cannes Film Festival.

His incendiary “Fahrenheit 9/11” riled and discomposed audiences yesterday with a relentless critique of the Bush administration in the post-Sept. 11 world. If Moore can get the movie into US theatres this summer as planned, the title “Fahrenheit 9/11” could become a rallying cry for Democratic voters in the fall election between President Bush and opponent John Kerry.The movie reiterates other critics’ accusations about the Bush family’s financial connections to Saudi oil money and the family of Osama bin Laden.Moore also repeats others’ condemnations that the White House was asleep at the wheel before the Sept.11 attacks, then used fear-mongering of future terrorism to muster support for the Iraq war.Yet Moore – the provocateur behind the Academy Award-winning “Bowling for Columbine,” which dissected American gun culture – applies his trademark satiric outrage to the Sept.11 debate, packaging his anti-Bush message in a way that provokes both laughs and gasps.Even sceptics of Moore, who draws criticism that he skews the truth to fit his arguments, were impressed.”I have a problematic relationship with some of Michael Moore’s work.There’s no such job as a stand-up journalist,” said James Rocchi, film critic for DVD rental company Netflix, who saw the movie at a press screening before its official Cannes premiere.Yet in “Fahrenheit 9/11,” Moore presents powerful segments about losses on both sides of the Iraq war and the grief of American and Iraqi families, Rocchi said.”This film is at its best when it is most direct and speaks from the heart, when it shows lives torn apart,” Rocchi said.Moore still is arranging for a US distributor.Miramax financed the movie, but parent company Disney blocked the release because of its political overtones.- Nampa-APIf Moore can get the movie into US theatres this summer as planned, the title “Fahrenheit 9/11” could become a rallying cry for Democratic voters in the fall election between President Bush and opponent John Kerry.The movie reiterates other critics’ accusations about the Bush family’s financial connections to Saudi oil money and the family of Osama bin Laden.Moore also repeats others’ condemnations that the White House was asleep at the wheel before the Sept.11 attacks, then used fear-mongering of future terrorism to muster support for the Iraq war.Yet Moore – the provocateur behind the Academy Award-winning “Bowling for Columbine,” which dissected American gun culture – applies his trademark satiric outrage to the Sept.11 debate, packaging his anti-Bush message in a way that provokes both laughs and gasps.Even sceptics of Moore, who draws criticism that he skews the truth to fit his arguments, were impressed.”I have a problematic relationship with some of Michael Moore’s work.There’s no such job as a stand-up journalist,” said James Rocchi, film critic for DVD rental company Netflix, who saw the movie at a press screening before its official Cannes premiere.Yet in “Fahrenheit 9/11,” Moore presents powerful segments about losses on both sides of the Iraq war and the grief of American and Iraqi families, Rocchi said.”This film is at its best when it is most direct and speaks from the heart, when it shows lives torn apart,” Rocchi said.Moore still is arranging for a US distributor.Miramax financed the movie, but parent company Disney blocked the release because of its political overtones.- Nampa-AP