Zebra 3
02-17-2007, 01:35 PM
PARIS (AFP) - Clint Eastwood has received France's Legion of Honour from President Jacques Chirac, who saluted the veteran US actor and director as the best of Hollywood.
"In honouring you in this way, France of course wants pay homage in particular to your immense talent as an actor, to your genius as a director to the exceptional place you hold in the world of cinema," said Chirac.
Over and above his cinematic achievements however, he was being recognised for the anti-war stance typified in his latest film, "Letters from Iwo Jima", said the president.
"From this side of the Atlantic, dear Clint Eastwood, you embody the best of Hollywood," Chirac added.
Told almost entirely in Japanese, "Letters from Iwo Jima" depicts the pivotal World War II battle through the eyes of Japanese soldiers fighting American GIs. It is considered a leading contender for this year's best director and best film Oscars.
Chirac saluted the film as "a beautiful lesson in humanism". It was not about being an apologist for pacifism, he said, "but showing the dead ends that simplistic schemas or the recourse to force lead to."
Eastwood only recently went public about his opposition to the US invasion of Iraq, which in 2003 the French president and his government tried to prevent in the months leading up to the war.
Chirac added: "You make us understand the complexity of America, with its greatness and its fragilities
"Letters" is the second part of two films about the Iwo Jima battle. The first film, "Flags of our Fathers," tells the American side of the 1945 Pacific island battle, in which more than 20,000 Japanese and nearly 7,000 Americans died.
Eastwood, 76, was dressed in a grey suit for the ceremony in the winter garden of the Elysee Palace. He was accompanied by family and friends including his wife Dina, his 10-year-old daughter Morgan and son Kyle.
"I've always considered France my second home," he told reporters.
Joking about his latest film, he said: "I just finished being a Japanese director. My great ambition would be some day to do a French film to become a French director."
In his address, President Chirac mentioned some of Eastwood's best known films. He cited the dark western "Unforgiven" (1992), which won him his first best director Oscar; "Mystic River" (2004); and the 2004 boxing drama "Million Dollar Baby", which won him his second director's Oscar.
"In honouring you in this way, France of course wants pay homage in particular to your immense talent as an actor, to your genius as a director to the exceptional place you hold in the world of cinema," said Chirac.
Over and above his cinematic achievements however, he was being recognised for the anti-war stance typified in his latest film, "Letters from Iwo Jima", said the president.
"From this side of the Atlantic, dear Clint Eastwood, you embody the best of Hollywood," Chirac added.
Told almost entirely in Japanese, "Letters from Iwo Jima" depicts the pivotal World War II battle through the eyes of Japanese soldiers fighting American GIs. It is considered a leading contender for this year's best director and best film Oscars.
Chirac saluted the film as "a beautiful lesson in humanism". It was not about being an apologist for pacifism, he said, "but showing the dead ends that simplistic schemas or the recourse to force lead to."
Eastwood only recently went public about his opposition to the US invasion of Iraq, which in 2003 the French president and his government tried to prevent in the months leading up to the war.
Chirac added: "You make us understand the complexity of America, with its greatness and its fragilities
"Letters" is the second part of two films about the Iwo Jima battle. The first film, "Flags of our Fathers," tells the American side of the 1945 Pacific island battle, in which more than 20,000 Japanese and nearly 7,000 Americans died.
Eastwood, 76, was dressed in a grey suit for the ceremony in the winter garden of the Elysee Palace. He was accompanied by family and friends including his wife Dina, his 10-year-old daughter Morgan and son Kyle.
"I've always considered France my second home," he told reporters.
Joking about his latest film, he said: "I just finished being a Japanese director. My great ambition would be some day to do a French film to become a French director."
In his address, President Chirac mentioned some of Eastwood's best known films. He cited the dark western "Unforgiven" (1992), which won him his first best director Oscar; "Mystic River" (2004); and the 2004 boxing drama "Million Dollar Baby", which won him his second director's Oscar.