Politics Rule at Cannes

This year's international film festival in Cannes, France opened with a heavy dose of political imagery. From Hollywood star Leonardo DiCaprio to little-known Romanian director Cristian Mungiu, non-fiction was the dominant format during the opening weekend of the Cannes film festival.

And of course, where there is political film-making, there is Michael Moore. At Cannes, the muckraking film-maker presented his latest documentary, "Sicko," which takes a harsh look at America's private health care system.

Moore also took advantage of the media spotlight to lambaste his favorite target, the administration of US President George W. Bush.

"This is an administration that flouts the law, flouts the constitution," Moore told the AFP news service as he criticized a US government probe into a trip he made to Cuba in connection with his latest film.

"The point was not to go to Cuba, it was to go to American soil, to Guantanamo Bay and to take 9/11 rescue workers there to receive the same medical care given to the Al-Qaeda detainees," he railed.

In a theme that is common to all of his works, Moore's "Sicko" also depicts US politicians -- Bush above all, but others as well -- as having been bought off by big business. The film celebrates what it calls the "socialist" model that provides effective state health care in other Western countries such as Germany, and laments the fact that the United States has rejected this model.

"Titanic" star joins green bandwagon

Meanwhile, Hollywood movie star Leonardo DiCaprio screened "The 11th Hour," an environmental documentary he produced.

But the film disappointed critics who were expecting a film similar to "An Inconvenient Truth," the acclaimed documentary that was fronted by Al Gore and presented at Cannes last year.

Neither Michael Moore nor Leonardo DiCaprio are competing for the Palme d'Or, or Golden Palm, this year.

After the screening of his film, DiCaprio, who became famous for his lead role in the hit movie "Titanic," talked to reporters about environmental issues.

The superstar reacted with indignation over suggestions that his green commitments were hypocritical in light of his own grandiose lifestyle.

Asked whether he had taken a fuel-guzzling flight on his way to the French Rivieria, DiCaprio was sarcastic. "No, I took a train across the Atlantic," he quipped, adding: "We're all trying the best we can, truly, we really are."

The "Titanic" star's sensitivity can be traced back to 2000, when environmental activists claimed his film "The Beach" damaged part of a Thai national park during shooting.

Two years ago, DiCaprio bought Blackadore Caye, an island off the coast of Belize in Central America, with the aim of building an eco-friendly resort.

"Fear cancels out freedom"

Other contenders also covered a wide range of international issues in their films.

In "Four Months, Three Weeks and Two Days," director Cristian Mungiu examines the horrific events surrounding an illegal abortion in Romania under the rule of dictator Nicolae Ceausescu.

The film takes a look at feminism under communism, and director Mungiu says the message was simple: "Fear cancels out freedom." She said that the legalization of abortion after the fall of the Iron Curtain was seen as "the ultimate freedom" by Romanian women.

And in Raphael Nadjari's "Tehilim," a family drama in Jerusalem at first seems markedly apolitical. But, little by little, the French film-maker introduces the viewer to a world that is "stuck between modernity and tradition, between spirituality and pragmatism, a world where a father figure -- maybe a representation of God -- is missing," according to AFP.

The Cannes festival ends next week, and the socio-political themes are expected to continue throughout.

On Wednesday, an exiled Iranian living in Paris, Marjane Satrapi, will show "Persepolis," an animated movie that purports to expose religious repression in the director's homeland. The film is based on Marjane's popular comic book series.