As real as it gets

Fri, May 16 12:45 AM

Real people and their real stories are the dominant leitmotifs of the high-profile film festival known as much for its Mediterranean location as the new movies it showcases. Of them, Steven Soderbergh's Che (also called Guerilla) features Spanish hottie Benicio Del Toro as Ernesto 'Che' Guevara.

Starting from his early life in Argentina (also captured in Walter Salles' The Motorcycle Diaries), moving to his involvement in the Cuban revolution and ending with his death in Bolivia, the advance word is that it's a four-hour epic that may tax the viewer's patience. Clint Eastwood's Changeling revisits the Wineville Chicken Murders of the 1920s.

Angelina Jolie portrays a mother whose son is kidnapped and eventually returned - after which she's convinced the child isn't her own. As with every Eastwood movie in the last five years, critical attention and eventual Oscar nods, are guaranteed.

Marina Zenovich's Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired examines the scandal that drove the director of such masterpieces as Knife in the Water, Rosemary's Baby and Chinatown, out of the US more than 30 years ago. James Toback's Tyson about the boxing champ, with a troubled life, has freshly shot material, as well as archival fight footage, interviews and photographs.

Yet another sporting legend has a film dedicated to him, and by a master auteur Emir Kusturica, no less. Maradona follows the career and life of the football icon-from his humble beginnings, rise to demi-god status, his fall and rebirth.

More stories unfold And there's The Third Wave by Alison Thompson, in which four independent volunteers travel to the tsunami ravaged Sri Lanka. Other films include Paulo Sorrentino's Il Divo, Chelsea on the Rocks by Abel Ferrara and Daniel Leconte's C'est Dur D'etre Aime Par Des Cons.

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