The year was 1999, and the competition at the Cannes Film Festival was pretty fierce. Takashi Kitano was in the mix with "Kikujiro," Jim Jarmusch was walking the red carpet with "Ghost Dog: The Way Of Samurai," and David Lynch arrived with "The Straight Story," but the two movies causing the most buzz on the Croisette were Bruno Dumont's "L'humanité" and Pedro Almodovar's "All About My Mother." Those films were widely seen to be battling for the coveted Palme d'Or but that year, the prize somewhat controversially went to Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardennes' "Rosetta." It was their first Palme, followed by another in 2005 for "L'Enfant," and for David Cronenberg, who was jury president at the time, history has vindicated what was seen as a shocker fifteen years ago.
"I think about [Fidel] Castro’s words. He said, 'history will absolve me.' I don’t know if that’ll work for Castro, but I...
