March 2, 2003
REVENGE FOR THAT DAMN BALLOON:
France vs. America (Ralph R. Reiland, March 2, 2003, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review)Ever vigilant to go the extra mile to keep the world free from bloody tyrants, the French last week banned a party of French school children from visiting Britain because of Tony Blair's backing of the war against Iraq. Better that the kids stay home in their French classrooms and develop their view of the world by watching Michael Moore's America-bashing "Bowling for Columbine."Moore's film became a certified part of the French national curriculum after winning the "Cannes Prix Educational National" award, voted on by hundreds of French teachers and students. The film also made French history by being the first documentary chosen in nearly 50 years to be part of the official Cannes Film Festival competition. Hands down, "Bowling for Columbine" won the festival's 55th Anniversary Special Prize. "It was the only prize awarded," explains Moore, "that received a unanimous decision from the festival jury."
What the jurors unanimously liked was the picture Moore painted of America, a wild-eyed nation of militia crazies, gun nuts, military bravado, imperialistic warmongers and dull-witted suburban fathers who shuffle off to their jobs at Lockheed Martin each morning to make weapons of mass destruction while their trigger-happy kids are over at Columbine High, first going to bowling class in the morning and then blasting their classmates to smithereens.
First of all, this can't be true, can it? Second, it serves them right to have to sit through Michael Moore, after all, we had to watch the excrutiating La Balon Rouge when we were kids. Posted by Orrin Judd at March 2, 2003 9:59 PM
I saw Moore's Columbine film with some friends in Denver (where I'm from). A feeble, tendentious string of calumnies, cleverly punctuated with imagery.
Posted by: Paul Cella at March 2, 2003 11:25 PMLa Balon Rouge. Every year from grades 4 through 8. I still automatically yell "balon! balon!" every time I see an escaped balloon flying away.
Posted by: NKR at March 2, 2003 11:54 PMOh my dear heavens. Someone else saw that dreadful movie? I thought only Catholic schools with cruddy A/V budgets showed that.
Posted by: Chris Badeaux at March 3, 2003 8:25 AMOf course it's true. What part of the history of the last fifty years would make you think its not true? Not that I have any objection right now to the rest of the world thinking that we're "a wild-eyed nation of militia crazies, gun nuts, military bravado, imperialistic warmongers and dull-witted suburban fathers who shuffle off to their jobs at Lockheed Martin each morning to make weapons of mass destruction".
I only had to sit through La Balon Rouge
two or three times, mostly on rainy days. I remember wondering throughout when the movie was going to start.
Hmm, I went to Catholic school, but I guess our AV budget was too low. All we ever did was go see "The Robe" and "Ben-Hur" at the Paramount downtown. Maybe I'm too old for "Balon Rouge"?
Make 'em sit through "The Sorrow and the Pity"
I was stuck watching this over and over again as well in school, and I always felt the ending of "La Balon Rouge" was just a little creepy -- here's this mass of apparently intellegent life form balloons carrying this little kid off into the Parisian sky like some sort of Gaulic Mary Poppins. Would have made for an interesting "X Files" episode.
On the other hand, I suppose being flown out of France for free could be considered a happy ending, but I always had a sneaking suspicion what finally happend to the kid probably was even more greusome than this.