Mario Cuomo joins fight for PG-13 rating for `Fahrenheit 9/11'

By KAREN MATTHEWS
Associated Press Writer

Newsday.com - AP Regional: "NEW YORK -- Former Gov. Mario Cuomo said Tuesday that he has been retained by the distributors of Michael Moore's documentary 'Fahrenheit 9/11' to assist in their effort to get a PG-13 rating instead of an R.

'I'm going to do everything I possibly can to get this picture advanced,' said Cuomo, a Democrat who has been a lawyer in private practice since being defeated for re-election by Republican George Pataki in 1994.

The film's images include a beheading in Saudi Arabia, Iraqis burned by napalm and an Iraqi man dumping a dead baby into a truckbed loaded with bodies.

Cuomo said that he has been retained by Lions Gate and IFC to assist in the appeals process and that after seeing the movie three times "I was convinced that it should be viewed and reflected upon by as many Americans as possible ... especially young people who, in a few years, might be part of our military forces."

Cuomo added that in addition to representing the distributors as an attorney he planned to go on talk shows to promote the movie. "