Michael Moore’s legal problems with Feds make former Cannes Palme d’Or winner more popular abroad
By Courtney Lear
LONDON, UK (Hollywood Today) 5/19/07 – Ever the cinematic rabble-rouser, Michael Moore unveiled his latest cause for controversy at this year’s 60th annual Cannes Film Festival.His film “Sicko” turns his scrutinizing lens at the American health care system, more specifically the treatment of September 11 rescue workers.
Moore has looming legal trouble due to sequences in the film where he takes those suffering from conditions thought to be linked to their work in the post-attack clean up of the World Trade Center to the US naval base at Guantanamo Bay and a Cuban hospital. According to the Treasury, there is no record of Moore obtaining a license authorizing travel to Cuba, meaning a possible fine or jail time.
“The point was not to go to Cuba. It was to go to American soil, to Guantanamo Bay, to take the 9/11 rescue workers there to receive the same healthcare that they are giving the al-Qaeda detainees,” Moore said at a Cannes press conference. “No film-maker should ever have to be talking about jail or fines or where he or she can travel.”
Following legal advice the master copy could be seized during the investigation. A copy of “Sicko” was sent out of the U.S. less than 24 hours after he was told about the investigation, Moore said.
“We are never going to have real change in the United States if the public doesn’t see that it will only happen when they rise up out of their theater seats and do something about it,” he said.
In addition to the Cuban controversy, Moore’s film looks at healthcare provisions in the U.K., France and Canada, and the director said the U.S. should adopt the best elements of other countries’ systems.
Moore has previously been honored with the Palme d’Or in Cannes in 2004 for “Fahrenheit 9/11″, an investigation of America’s entry into war with Afghanistan and Iraq.