CANNES, France — Without Michael Moore (search) and "Fahrenheit 9/11" at the Cannes Film Festival (search) this time, it was left to George Lucas and "Star Wars" to pique European ire over the state of world relations and the United States' role in it. Lucas' themes of democracy on the skids and a ruler preaching war to preserve the peace predate "Star Wars: Episode III — Revenge of the Sith" by almost 30 years. Yet viewers Sunday — and Lucas himself — noted similarities between the final chapter of his sci-fi saga and our own troubled times.