Jeffrey Overstreet

Amid the 25-Minute Ovation, a Surprising Criticism

While it's true that Michael Moore received an 25-minute standing ovation at the Cannes Film Festival for his Dubya-bashing film Farenheit 911, here's an interesting detail, courtesy of IMDB.com:

Legendary French director Jean-Luc Godard became one of the few persons in attendance at the Cannes Film Festival who had negative things to say about Michael Moore's controversial Fahrenheit 9/11 film (although he admitted that he had not seen it). Godard, who described Moore as "halfway intelligent," told reporters that films like Fahrenheit "help Bush more than harm him ... in a very vicious way that [directors like Moore] are not conscious of." Bush, he said, "is less stupid than [Moore] thinks."

Godard is visiting Cannes to support his latest film, Our Music, which is being screened outside of the competition. Like Moore's film, Our Music explores the conscience of nations in conflict. At one point in his news conference, he invited Olivier Derousseau, a leader of the part-time actors and technicians who have been staging a demonstration at the festival to protest cuts in unemployment benefits, to say a few words to the reporters.

by Jeffrey Overstreet