PARIS: The Cannes Film Festival is hardly a place where you would imagine political consciousness to be high on the list. But this year, the 12-day festival has a decidedly political slant with an impressive lineup of documentaries, several of which were inspired by the Bush administration and its war in Iraq.
"One thing US President George W. Bush has done is to get people interested and active in politics again," Joseph Mealey told the film industry magazine Variety. "Bush's Brain" Mealey's documentary about Karl Rove, the White House political strategist, is being presented in market screenings at Cannes.
Michael Moore, France's favorite American, is back two years after showing "Bowling for Columbine" with "Fahrenheit 9/11." At its In Competition screening Monday, Moore's film, an indictment of the Bush administration's past four years in power, produced a 15-minute standing ovation and speculation that the film might win the coveted Palme d'Or prize.
While "Fahrenheit 9/11" has been widely covered by the media, a less-publicized documentary, shown Tuesday in Cannes to a packed theater, has the potential of becoming a political thunderbolt when released in US cinemas this August.
Noted television and film producer Robert Greenwald's "Uncovered: The War on Iraq" is an in-depth look at the distortion of intelligence and the "spin and hype" created by the White House to justify going to war in Iraq. Read Full Review

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