Premiere Magazine: Cannes Film Festival Review

Premiere Magazine: " . . an explosive and heart wrenching piece of cinema . . .

By Mark Salisbury

After all the furor surrounding the Disney company's decision not to release Michael Moore's incendiary new documentary, Fahrenheit 9/11 the world's press finally got to see what the fuss was all about and what exactly had gotten Disney in such a lather when the film was shown on Monday in competition at the Cannes Film Festival. Less a documentary than a one man crusade against the current incumbent of the White House, Moore's blistering film makes a persuasive case as it takes aim at the Bush administration and goes for jugular. Moore takes as his starting point George W's controversial victory of the 2000 presidential election, following through to the September 11th attacks in New York and Washington. He picks apart the Bush's family ties with the Saudis, and in particular asks how 24 members of the Bin Laden family were allowed to leave the U.S. with White House approval in the days following 9/11, as well as delving into a subsequent fictional war on terror'the Bush-led witch hunt for Sadaam-rather than going after Al-Qaeda-and right up to the current conflict up to Iraq and the realization that maybe America had gotten itself involved in another Vietnam.

Even though there’s not much new ground covered here (a lot of the same material was picked over in Moore’s recent best-seller), and despite the fact the film is arguably around 15-20 minutes too long, this is, nevertheless, an explosive and heart wrenching piece of cinema that should provide ample ammunition for those who are fast becoming disillusioned by the increasing body count of American soldiers in Iraq. If Moore finds a brave US distributor ready to step up to the plate, he’s likely to have an even greater than Bowling for Columbine. As for the future for the president? That’s up to you folks . . ."