Michael Moore previews new film 'Sicko'

TORONTO - Maverick US filmmaker Michael Moore steered the Toronto International Film Festival firmly toward politics with a scathing denunciation of the Iraq war and a preview of his next film, "Sicko," which slams a patchwork US health care system.

Moore, who won an Oscar for his 2002 anti-gun film "Bowling for Columbine" and set a box office record for another documentary, "Fahrenheit 9/11, about America after the 2001 attacks, highlighted his views on Iraq to loud applause from a clearly sympathetic audience.

"Here we are 3 1/2 years (into the war) and we are not able to secure the road from the airport to downtown Baghdad. It's absolutely f---ing ridiculous," he said, describing the war as a distraction to keep Americans scared.

"We don't want to secure that road, because we don't want that war to end yet because we want to bring a sense of fear to Americans... It's so sad and so pathetic."

Moore's appearance in a sold-out 140-minute late-night discussion with Seinfeld writer Larry Charles was the first of several political highlights at the festival.

It will be followed on Sunday by the world premiere of "Death of a President," a fictional British film shot in terse documentary style that examines curbs on civil liberties introduced in the two years after the "assassination" of President Bush.

The movie, dubbed bold by some and tasteless by others, has become one of Toronto's hottest tickets.

Another political offering is "The Prisoner or: How I Planned to Kill Tony Blair," a documentary also from Britain that looks at the arrest of an Iraqi man accused of wanting to kill the British prime minister and eventually released with a one-word apology: "Sorry."

The Dixie Chicks, an American country music trio that sparked controversy and won radio playlist bans for an anti-Bush comment on the eve of the 2003 invasion of Iraq, takes center stage later in the week with a gala performance of a movie called "Dixie Chicks: Shut Up and Sing."

Moore, wearing his trademark sneakers and baseball cap, gave the audience a preview of "Sicko," highlighting problems getting health insurance in America, the contrast with next-door Canada and differences between what he described as a "me-first" American society and a gentler "let's help others" attitude elsewhere.

Moore also showed a short clip of "The Great '04 Slacker Uprising," a documentary recounting his 60-day, 60-city tour in the 2004 presidential election campaign to persuade Americans to vote, but not for Bush.

The US Democratic Party needed more movie stars-turned politicians, he insisted, calling on talk-show host Oprah Winfrey to run for president.

"I think we should get Oprah in the Oval Office," he said. "Every 4 pm she could still do her show."

- REUTERS/VNU