As the Cannes film festival hit the half-way mark yesterday, the still wide-open race for the Palme d'Or was being fueled by a heavy dose of politics.
While critics were evaluating the crop of competition films seen so far -- and giving their highest marks to two films, one Bosnian and the other French -- much of the attention was being given to contentious issues raised both inside and outside the festival.
Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 911, which was to be screened for the first time later yesterday, was easily the most polemical moment of the entire movie event.
The maverick US director has suggested his documentary, resolutely critical of President George W. Bush, could change the course of the US election in November.
"Obviously, George W. Bush has to be removed from office," Moore said.
His eagerness to talk about US politics was in stark contrast with the behavior at Cannes of another director who may soon have a direct line to the White House: Alexandra Kerry, the daughter of Bush's Democrat rival John Kerry.
The 30-year-old has been keeping appearances restricted to talking about her 15-minute short film, shown out of competition, about a Vietnam war veteran's return home, avoiding all mention of her father (himself a Vietnam vet) and the US presidential race.
Others at the festival would have dreamed of the publicity the younger Kerry was eschewing, for example the makers of Bush's Brain, a documentary about Bush advisor Karl Rove.
Some were certain to get modest attention because of the subject matter of their films. Such was likely to be the case with the German film The Edukators, a fiction about a group of young people who want to change the world without using violence.
Among those outside the festival trying to get the spotlight on to their cause as possible were French entertainment industry workers.
Labour unrest threatened to hit the film extravaganza yesterday with unions urging hotel and restaurant workers to go on strike for more pay, adding to sporadic protests in Cannes by French entertainment industry workers.
After almost daily demonstrations -- including one that caused the festival's main building to lock down briefly on Saturday -- their campaign to have cuts to their welfare benefits appeared to be bearing fruit.
Culture Minister Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres on Sunday told union representatives the government now wants to revise the benefits reforms imposed this year, though he offered no specific terms.
At the purely celluloid end of the festival spectrum, critics were keeping running tallies of which films stood the best chance of winning the Palme d'Or.
Life is a Miracle, a film about love during the Bosnian war by acclaimed director Emir Kusturica, and Look at Me, a sharp-witted film of family by French director Agnes Jaoui, have so far scored highest. If the Palme went to Kusturica, it would be his third, a feat never achieved before in Cannes.
But their impact has been eclipsed by two films that were shown out of competition: Bad Education by Spain's Pedro Almodovar, and Kill Bill 2 by this year's Cannes jury president, Quentin Tarantino.
If the excitement surrounding Moore's documentary was anything to go by, the tables may well be re-written in favor of the anti-Bush film, proving once again that, at Cannes, its politics and cinema that rule.
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