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Cannes' Palme d'Or goes to Michael Moore

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the wonder-when-we'll-get-to-see-this-movie dept.

An anonymous reader writes "The Palme d'Or of the Festival de Cannes was presented this year by Charlize Theron to Fahrenheit 9/11 by Michael Moore. I don't know if it's the first time this prize is awarded to a documentary, but I guess it's rare enough to be mentioned, especially given the problems this film encounters."

10 of 1,856 comments (clear)

  1. before somebody asks... by SmellsLikeFish · · Score: 5, Informative

    four of the nine jurors were American: Mr. Tarantino, Kathleen Turner, the director Jerry Schatzberg, and the Haitian-born novelist Edwidge Danticat. one juror, the actress Emanuelle Béart, is a French citizen, British actress Tilda Swinton, Benoit Poelvoode, a Belgian actor; Peter von Bagh, a Finnish critic; and the Hong Kong director Tsui Hark made up the rest of the jury. taken from here

  2. Re:As Much As I Agree by Vilou · · Score: 5, Informative

    Tarentino told Moore exactly the opposite: "It's not only for the message: it's a good movie".

  3. Re:Second documentary by rolux · · Score: 5, Informative

    To be exact, it was in 1956, when "Le Monde du silence" by Jacques-Yves Cousteau and Louis Malle won the Palme d'Or.

    List of winners 1946-2004

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    My next comment will be ready soon, but moderators can beat the rush and mod it up early.
  4. Re:Documentary? by That's+Unpossible! · · Score: 5, Informative

    Here you go (again):

    http://www.hardylaw.net/Truth_About_Bowling.html

    --
    Ironically, the word ironically is often used incorrectly.
  5. NY Times - June 17, 2000 by Mad+Man · · Score: 5, Informative
    Michael Moore's commitment to "free speech" ends when people do unto him that he does unto others.

    A few years ago, Moore had an ex-employee arrested, when said employee tried to get an interview with him.

    http://partners.nytimes.com/library/national/regio nal/061700ny-col-tierney.html

    June 17, 2000

    THE BIG CITY
    When Tables Turn, Knives Come Out
    By JOHN TIERNEY

    Michael Moore made a name for himself pointing cameras at cruel corporate executives and other enemies of the people. He stalked the chairman of General Motors, sent people in Puritan costumes to Ken Starr's home and set up a Web site with a camera trained on a window of Lucianne Goldberg's apartment.

    But Mr. Moore does not appreciate being bothered himself, as Alan Edelstein discovered. After he was fired by Mr. Moore, Mr. Edelstein tried borrowing the technique Mr. Moore had applied to G.M.'s Roger Smith in the film "Roger & Me": showing up uninvited with a camera and trying to get an answer from a boss who has decided to downsize.

    Mr. Moore responded by filing a complaint with the New York police accusing Mr. Edelstein of aggravated harassment, menacing and criminal trespassing. As a result, Mr. Edelstein was arrested in March and spent nine hours in a cell at the Midtown North police station.

    The district attorney's office later dropped the case. Now Mr. Edelstein is suing Mr. Moore, alleging malicious prosecution.

    Mr. Edelstein, who is 39 and lives in Park Slope, Brooklyn, was hired in 1998 as a producer on "The Awful Truth," Mr. Moore's show on the Bravo network. He was fired by a subordinate of Mr. Moore's after seven weeks.

    "I was told that there was a budget crunch," he said, "but I don't think that was true. I later learned there were questions about my competence, which no one had ever raised when I was there. So I was angry at the way I was dealt with."

    He had another reason for pursuing Mr. Moore with a camera. Mr. Edelstein, who was nominated for an Academy Award in 1985 for a documentary about a musician, was making a documentary incorporating scenes from his own life. "I thought footage with Michael explaining why I'd been fired would be useful for my own documentary," he said.

    During a speech by Mr. Moore at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, Mr. Edelstein stood up with a camera and a bullhorn, a tool used by Mr. Moore outside the offices of executives. Mr. Edelstein demanded to know why he had been fired but didn't get an answer.

    Mr. Edelstein twice showed up with his camera at the office of Mr. Moore's production company on West 57th Street near 11th Avenue. He filmed some employees but didn't manage to reach Mr. Moore. Later, he took his camera for a few more unsuccessful attempts to engage Mr. Moore at public events outside the office.

    Mr. Moore says he complained to the police because he thought Mr. Edelstein had become a stalker who was a threat to Mr. Moore's family as well as his employees.

    "If all he was doing was making his little film about me, I wouldn't have cared," Mr. Moore said. "But other people were at risk. This is a disgruntled employee who is a bit off his rocker. Everyone in the office felt there was considerable risk. The women in the office felt frightened for their own safety. Ask them. They'll tell you."

    I asked several women, including one recommended by Mr. Moore, and none sounded scared. They said they found Mr. Edelstein a bit obsessive but otherwise mild-mannered and harmless.

    "No one was remotely in fear of Alan in any shape or form," said Kyra Vogt, who was the office manager at the time Mr. Edelstein showed up with the camera. "Most of us thought the situation was comical. The only person who was paranoid was Mi

  6. Re:Documentary? by polin8 · · Score: 5, Informative

    google: fox news bias

    Turns up numerous pages with examples of Fox bias.

    The classsic:

    http://www.fair.org/extra/0108/fox-main.html

    More current:

    http://www.oreilly-sucks.com/foxbias.htm

  7. Re:Documentary? by ctid · · Score: 5, Informative

    Fox went to court over the issue of whether a news organization had the right to lie or distort news stories under the First Amendment. Fox won in the end, at the third or fourth attempt. This blew up over a reporter Jane Akre, who argued that her bosses at Fox had pressured her to change a story about the effect of some hormone treatment on cattle - her report was to say that milk from these cows was dangerous for humans. There is a link to the story here. This is why people say that Fox isn't about news.

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    Reality is defined by the maddest person in the room
  8. Re:Documentary? by plugger · · Score: 5, Informative

    Read his book 'Stupid White Men', he doesn't think the Democrats are much better than the current crew.

  9. Re:Documentary? by That's+Unpossible! · · Score: 5, Informative
    OK, I just read this piece from Moore.

    Most the article is discussing issues not even raised on the page I linked. He only addresses two issues from that page, near the end of the article.

    The first is regarding the Heston/NRA speech in Colorado after columbine. I have tried to see it from his perspective has described here, but I just can't. He claims "Far from deliberately editing the film to make Heston look worse, I chose to leave most of this out and not make Heston look as evil as he actually was."

    How can he think anyone that can think critically will buy this explanation?

    View the speech as presented by Moore in the movie, and then read the actual speech. He's as creative as a plastic surgeon, nipping and tucking, here and there, until all meaning is replaced with Moore's agenda.

    He left out the opening of his speech which explains that the NRA meeting was shortened, festivities cancelled, out of respect. Heston said, "As you know, we've canceled the festivities and fellowship we normally enjoy at our annual gatherings. This decision has perplexed a few and inconvenienced thousands. I apologize for that. But it's fitting and proper that we should do this ... because NRA members are, above all, Americans. That means whatever our differences, we are respectful of one another and we stand united, especially in adversity."

    FYI, the NRA is required to hold an annual meeting, and it was decided it would be held in that location long before Columbine happened. Moore cut out this part of the speech, did not bother informing anyone of the logistics ore requirements of the NRA annual meeting, presented it almost as if the NRA decided to come there and have this fire-breathing meeting in order to piss off Columbine mourners. Moore also started out this section of film with a snippet from a speech that happened long ago, far away. The "cold, dead hands" outtake. Incidentally, that was not a fire-breathing speech about gun rights, but was Heston saying thanks for the antique, collectable gun that was just presented to him.

    Anyway, the extend of this colorful editing job by Moore is covered very well in the link I provided above, and you can verify everything for yourself.

    He then goes on to address the statistics game, but I don't hold much stock in the statistics presented by anyone, including Moore and the guy that wrote the page on hardylaw.net.

    I did enjoy, near the end of this article, where Moore states, "I can guarantee to you, without equivocation, that every fact in my movie is true."

    A mere three paragraphs later, he then states:

    Actually, I have found one typo in the theatrical release of the film. It was a caption that read, "Willie Horton released by Dukakis and kills again." In fact, Willie Horton was a convicted murderer who, after escaping from furlough, raped a woman and stabbed her fiancé, but didn't kill him. The caption has been permanently corrected on the DVD and home video version of the film and replaced with, "Willie Horton released. Then rapes a woman." My apologies to Willie Horton and the Horton family for implying he is a double-murderer when he is only a single-murderer/rapist. And my apologies to the late Lee Atwater who, on his deathbed, apologized for having engineered the smear campaign against Dukakis (but correctly identified Mr. Horton as a single-murderer!).


    Well, at least he can admit when he's wrong... uhh.
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    Ironically, the word ironically is often used incorrectly.
  10. Re:Documentary? by OldSchoolNapster · · Score: 5, Informative

    When the story broke about the bomb going off that was hooked up to a sarin gas shell (Sarin is a nerve agent, a weapon of mass destruction), for that day and the next, you could find no news story on CNN.com about it. Not one. It was covered on FOX News and MSNBC's websites. Nothing on cnn.com. On the third day, I did manage to find an article that was discussing something else about the war, and at the bottom it mentioned the sarin bomb found.

    I have seen several stories about WMD being found in Iraq since the war began (or ended if you like sticking your head in the ground)and so far not one has turned out to be actual WMD. Still these stories played prominantly on the 24 hour news cycle. Invariably, several days later, the true identitiy of the "WMD" is found and oubviously not as widely publicized, especially on fox. Ever since the WMD mobile lab with canvas sides (that sounds like a sterile environment) which was paraded around as "proof" of WMD, I have taken every such story with a large grain of salt. Especially when it comes from fox. WOLF!

    I can't say for sure that this "sarin" is not real, but I can say that so far 100% of the WMD news stories have been fabrications by either the government or the "news" media.

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    bit trollent