Madonna's solo mission to save Malawi took another step towards fulfillment last night when the film I Am Because We Are -  the film she didn't direct but for which she is taking the credit - met with acclaim at the Cannes Film Festival. The documentary investigates the effects of disease and poverty in Malawi, one of the world's poorest countries.

The film, which Madonna wrote and produced, was actually directed by Nathan Rissman, who worked variously as the singer's "manny", gardener, research assistant and video archivist before his filmmaking skills were discovered when he started making movies of his boss's children and sending them to her while she was away on tour. Filmed over two years, it explores the devastating story of one of the world's poorest nations. It's to be hoped that the film's positive reception will guarantee its director a succesful future in the industry. It's producer certainly doesn't need the extra publicity.

Madonna recently caused controversy when she adopted a Malawian baby. David, whose mother was an Aids victim, became an international cause célèbre amid allegations that Madonna had abused her celebrity status to sidestep Malawian adoption procedures when she made her tokenistic gesture. The all-round entertainer claimed in her defence that she felt 'a connection' with the child before going on to compare the pain of adoption with that of childbirth. "It was painful and a big struggle" she said of the process, before generously acknowledging that "when a woman goes through natural childbirth she suffers an enormous amount". But apparently no more than when she adopts. "I went through my own kind of birthing pains" she added, just in case we'd begun to imagine that the adoption might be about the child rather than the monstrous ego of its washed up iconic saviour.

It's good in this cynical world to be reminded that this kind of imperialism is alive and well, and that rich publicity-hungry white folk are prepared to endure such suffering to save photogenic poor black babies.