The theatre was more than full. Half of the people were American, but a lot of us were French. He was warmly applaused when he came in. Then the doc began.
The doc begins with the election day, stressing the point that Gore had won, until Fox News told the contrary.
The documentary goes from the investiture and the riots that happened that day, to the first months of "work" for Bush. Pretty soon we get to September 11. Moore made the choice not to show the images of the tower, but left a black screen, with only the noises. When there finally are images : it's the faces of people in the streets.
Moore shows what was Bush doing when he get the news (sitting in a school, reading a child book) and how he stayed there, doing nothing, for several minutes. The critic to the man is obvious and violently funny. The audience in the theatre was laughing and cheering.
Moore illustrates then his point : the relationships between Saudians families and the Bush family, all linked through weapons and oil firms. Moore uses a fragmented chronology and flash-backs to prove the manipulations and the contradictions in speeches.
Very soon, Moore explains that the real goal was Iraq though Afghanistan was attacked first.
Then begins the second part of the doc : about war.
Moore demonstrates, with the help of a psychiatrist and of archives documents, how the opinion and American people were manipulated, putting an emphasis about the Patriot Act.
Moore went to Baghdad, where he shot soldiers, speaking freely, where he just the people and how they are treated by American troops. He creates a "décalage" between what is said by some soldiers and by what he shows of the war : civilians being killed or arrested.
His purpose is clear : he doesn't put the blame on the troops, but on their ignorance, their violence and on the manipulators.
We also follows with him the story of Lila, who is an ordinary family mother from Flint, Michigan. We follow her in time : her pride that her kid is a soldier, like many in her family before, then the first doubts of Lila, to, eventually, her son's death and her trip to Washington, while, in the meantime, Moore shows himself trying to recruit, unsuccesfully the senators' kids to go to war in Iraq.
The doc ends with a George Orwell quotation about war and politics. Moore closes his doc with a final commentary, which you can't really calls optimistic.
He got the biggest standing ovation I ever saw in Cannes. Most people were red-eyed because it was so moving. But everyone stood and applauded, and cheered for at least 15 minutes.
When he went down the steps, the music being played was John Lennon's Imagine. A beautiful choice for a beautiful doc.
Celia
Ugh. I am determined to keep this investigation going, because I want to see that slime discredited. He is an evil person.
I hate these people.
We also follows with him the story of Lila, who is an ordinary family mother from Flint, Michigan. We follow her in time : her pride that her kid is a soldier, like many in her family before, then the first doubts of Lila, to, eventually, her son's death and her trip to Washington, while, in the meantime, Moore shows himself trying to recruit, unsuccesfully the senators' kids to go to war in Iraq.
Wonder how it is that Moore just happened upon a woman who's son died.
This theme would fit in with the theory some have suggested here that Moore wanted to film/document a Nick Berg who made a miraculous metamorphasis from being pro-war/pro-Bush to anti-war/anti-Bush after spending time in Iraq.