May 25, 2002	Saturday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 12,1423

CANNES: The weather here might have been better and the bouncers patrolling the private parties could have been gentler, but the 55th Cannes International Film Festival delivered the goods where it truly counted — with the movies.

At least half of the 22 works in competition for the Golden Palm for best film were very good, and three were exceptional, making this year’s event the best in recent memory.

The Golden Palm and other prizes will be awarded on Sunday, when the festival closes.

Organizers may have saved the best for the end, as Roman Polanski’s “The Pianist”, which screened on Friday, is almost certain to pick up some award.

A deeply moving, often harrowing and elegantly filmed depiction of the survival of a Jewish concert pianist in Nazi-occupied Warsaw, the film is based on the true story of Wladyslaw Szpilman and taken from his book, “Death of a City,” first published in Polish in 1946.

The 68-year-old Polanski, who also co-wrote the script, said that “The Pianist” is the most personal film he has made “for the simple reason that I could use my own recollections”.

Born in Paris to Polish parents, Polanski moved to the Polish city of Cracow with his mother and father two years before the start of World War II and lived through the Nazi occupation.

His mother died in a concentration camp, and Polanski spent his childhood wandering alone, often shot at for sport by Nazi soldiers.

Should “The Pianist” win the Golden Palm, it would be the culmination of a long comeback from personal tragedy and scandal for Polanski.

In 1969, his wife, Sharon Tate, and some friends were murdered by members of the Charles Manson “family” in the Polanski Los Angeles home. Eight years later, Polanski was forced to flee the United States after being accused of having sex with an underage model.

The film faces stiff competition from Finnish director Aki Kaurismaki’s sublime lower-depths romantic comedy “The Man Without a Past” and Ken Loach’s “Sweet Sixteen”, the tragic story of a teenager’s attempt to make a home for himself and his jailed mother.

Other movies getting serious consideration for the festival’s top prize are Palestinian filmmaker Elia Suleiman’s “Divine Intervention”, an often uproarious black comedy about the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory, and Michael Moore’s hilarious in-your-face documentary about the American gun culture, “Bowling for Columbine”.

Another hot contest is the award for best actor, with at least a half-dozen exceptional performances providing the nine-member Cannes jury with an almost impossible task.

Adrien Brody’s bravura portrayal of Holocaust survivor Wladyslaw Szpilman makes him a strong candidate for the prize. Brody said on Friday that the role was a taxing one.

Brody’s main competition for the acting prize are a 65-year-old Hollywood legend and a 17-year-old Scottish footballer.

Jack Nicholson’s performance in Alexander Payne’s “About Schmidt”, in which he plays a retired insurance executive coming to terms with an unfulfilled life, has been hailed as the best of his long and distinguished career.

If he doesn’t win at Cannes, Nicholson seems a sure bet to pick up his fourth Academy Award when Oscar time comes around next year.

Most astonishing about 17-year-old Martin Compston’s powerful performance in “Sweet Sixteen” is that the midfielder for the Scottish side Morton had never before acted in his life.

On screen for every minute of the film, his presence gives the work much of its tragic dignity.

Also in the running for the top acting prize are Ralph Fiennes, for his sensitive portrayal of a schizophrenic in David Cronenberg’s “Spider”, and Italian actor Sergio Castellito, for playing an anguished atheist in Marco Bellocchio’s “The Religion Hour”.

On the other hand, there were few strong women’s roles at Cannes this year, and Ariane Ascaride is a strong favourite for her performance in Robert Guediguian’s “Marie-Joe and Her Two Lovers”, in which she plays a woman coming to terms with (as the title says) having two lovers.

No matter who takes home the prize, this year’s Cannes film festival deserves an award of its own for having restored the faith of all those movie lovers who had come to doubt the creative vitality of the world’s film industry.

It was, as advertised, a celebration of the movies.—dpa