Posted on 07/14/2004 2:53:42 PM PDT by weegee
PARIS -- When "Fahrenheit 9/11" was selected for the Cannes film festival, another documentary about George W. Bush was waiting in the wings in case Michael Moore's film wasn't ready in time. "The organizers were keen to include our film in the Official Selection but felt it was politically incorrect to have two anti-Bush documentaries at Cannes," says Jean-Francois Lepetit, whose Flach Film produced "Le Monde Selon Bush" (The World According to Bush).
Directed by seasoned documentary maker William Karel, the 90-minute film could scarcely be more different to Moore's pamphlet that went on to win the Palme d'Or. Karel's style is sober, eschewing humor and stunts in favor of heavyweight interviews.
"Le Monde" is a scathing attack on Bush's first 1,000 days in power, and chronicles the first family's alleged links with the oil and arms industries.
Originally made for French pubcaster France 2, the documentary premiered on television last Friday, but in an unusual move will open theatrically in France on Wednesday. "We wanted to give the film a wider audience," Lepetit explains.
Inspired by journalist-author Eric Laurent's two books on the Bush administration, "Le Monde" is the fifth film by Karel examining American political power. The Tunisian-born Swiss director insists he "adores" America, but chose to make the film because "it's a true story stranger than fiction."
Spending more than eight months battling "the veil of secrecy" surrounding those in office, Karel managed 26 detailed interviews, with personalities including Secretary of State Colin Powell, neo-conservative Richard Perle, former CIA directors James Woosley and David Kay, writer Norman Mailer, academics and journalists. "I was amazed how willing some people were to be interviewed, straight after they had left government and were no longer bound by secrecy laws," Karel says.
The 500,000 ($605,000) film covers many topics, including how the "Christian right Israeli lobby" has influenced U.S. policy in the Middle East and how the Sept. 11 attack gave a "clueless" Bush his raison d'etre -- the "crusade" against terrorism, the "false pretext" under which the second war on Iraq was waged, and the "big lie" linking Saddam Hussein to Sept. 11. The film illustrates how George Bush Sr., first as vice president and then as president from 1988 to 1992, armed and financed Hussein. The Bush family's alleged ties to the Bin Laden clan and Saudi Arabia are also examined.
Karel insists his film is not a French diatribe against America but rather a gathering of eyewitness accounts from Americans who lived through the times. "To think President Richard Nixon was impeached because of three tapes!" Karel exclaims. He hopes the film will be seen in the United States. "None of my films have made it to the U.S., but I'm hopeful that this one will," he says.
When "Fahrenheit 9/11" was selected for the Cannes film festival, another documentary about George W. Bush was waiting in the wings in case Michael Moore's film wasn't ready in time. "The organizers were keen to include our film in the Official Selection but felt it was politically incorrect to have two anti-Bush documentaries at Cannes,"
Sounds like the fix was in at Cannes (have some sort of Bush-Bash win/draw attention).
Huh? |
Dear Mr. Karel,
You're French. Therefore, you're irrelevant. Shut the hell up, we will save the world in spite of you.
I think he meant the "Bible-thumping Jewish Nazis," but he was trying to be polite.
Can some clever Freeper remind me when David Kay was Director of Central Intelligence?
I can't seem to remember when that was.
As opposed to the Atheistic left Arab lobby of les french batards.
And how did NEW french weapons manage to find their way into Saddamns Iraq?
And I thought I was crazy... |
"Germans?"
"Shh. He's on a roll."
Hurl!
It has been proposed that Moore didn't use the typical leftist "zionist - Israeli lobby" because he wants to defeat Bush and this might turn off some jewish voters, who tend to turnout heavily in support of dems. It's just speculation.
Not only a fix, but favoritism and lack of competition. Just what we have come to expect from years of liberal breeding.
Then again, if Moore had played up the antiSemitism angle, it would have drawn even more comparisions to Nazi documentaries like Triumph Of The Will and The Enternal Jew. It also would have been harder to separate these conspiracy theories from Democrat also-ran Lyndon LaRouche.
And the assault continues...I haven't seen such an assault on a President since 1966-68 on Lyndon Johnson. From what I hear, the French have many uses for their tongues but speaking the truth isn't one of them.
Moore is smart enough not to mention Israel or The Joooooos, but I do wonder. I do wonder.
The big lie is that President Bush ever linked Saddam to 9/11.
We know that Saddam had links to terrorists. We don't know that he had links to 9/11. A three-year-old can understand the difference...except for French three-year-olds, of course.
Ribbit
The French aren't worthy of consideration, unless its in regards to new bombing ranges.....
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