A few years ago, I had an eye-opening experience. I was visiting my friend Julie in Seattle for the post-Christmas week.

Unfortunately, I came down with a miserable case of the flu, and Seattle was effectively snowed in by a storm that closed all the passes and filled the city streets.

Julie and I made the best of it by hiking to Scarecrow Video, a truly awesome video store, to procure several days worth of entertainment.

In addition to the usual cool-video-store selection of cult films, foreign films, and mainstream releases, they had a large section of PAL-format tapes. There I spotted versions of 2 of my favorite films: Terry Gilliam's Brazil and Luc Besson's The Big Blue. Both were the longer European cuts of the films, and unavailable domestically on VHS at the time.

We rented a PAL player and both films, as well as a selection of VHS films.

I watched Brazil for the first time since seeing the severely-cut "Love Conquers All" version while at the University of North Texas. I was amazed—it was a completely different film!

Watching The Big Blue, or Le Grand Bleu - Version Longue, I was further amazed to discover that it too was a completely different film! In fact, not only was there approximately an hour of additional footage, but the soundtrack by Eric Serra was completely different from, and far superior to, the Bill Conti soundtrack to the American theatrical release. Serra's soundtrack perfectly set the tone and mood for every scene, and was impeccably timed to the on-screen action in such scenes as the dive into the wrecked ship. Conti's merely did predictably heavy-handed Hollywood underscoring. What on earth happened?

Fast forward to several months later. Curious and bored at the local Best Buy, I rented Point Of No Return, the American remake of Besson's Nikita, also known as La Femme Nikita. The inferiority of the American remake was appalling. It was if every ounce of psychological depth had been sucked out of the characters, replaced only by a few pouty expressions from Bridget Fonda. What was wrong with the original? DId this travesty happen merely in the name of avoiding subtitles?

And then last night I rented the DVD of Leon, released to American theaters as The Professional. Once again, I am amazed, because once again, this is a completely different movie! Whole series of scenes have been cut out of the American theatrical version, resulting in a slightly-above-average action film with a minor relationship subplot. In this full version, it is the action plot that is subordinate to the complex relationship between the characters, a relationship that unfolds with exquisite emotional depth and sensitivity.

I began to wonder: why does Luc Besson get no respect in this country? Why must every one of his films be savagely cut, or remade, before appearing to American audiences?

Is he aware that this happens? Has he signed a contract that gives the American distributors the right to do whatever they want with the film? Does he actually approve of these changes, and if so, why? Why do they make these changes anyway?

It simply boggles my mind, the way his artistic vision is consistently sublimated in the American versions of these films.

Granted, I do own the Criterion edition of Brazil now, and thanks to the thorough background material I am well aware of the horror story surrounding Terry Gilliam's battle to release his cut of that film. Is that it? Does Besson simply not want to bother with such a difficult fight?

Does he trust to the fact that the real fans of his work in America will eventually see the full version somehow? Certainly, I am a perfect example of the fact that even the American versions are sufficiently good to make a fan of someone, to create that urge to seek out the unadulterated version.

Or, does he finds himself at the mercy of studio contracts, and have no choice? Is that it?

I'm worried now that there may even be a European release of The Fifth Element, containing an extra hour of material that propels that film to the same artistic heights occupied by Le Grand Bleu and Leon. Is there?

I realize that films, by virtue of their size and expense, are inherently corporate endeavors, but excellent works of film art get made every year in spite of that. What profit-minded buffoons in America are responsible for denying Besson's films the respect they deserve?

I want to know, so I can "clean" them from the movie industry, one by one!