premise: At the same time that the picture was winning an international critics' prize at the Cannes Film Festival (where it was shown outside the main competition), Universal, the studio that financed it (through its recently acquired indie wing, October), unloaded it in a panic--largely because its new owners, the Bronfmans of Seagram, feared being associated with a movie that featured a pedophile.
hypothesis: Universal panicked when they released the film because it featured a crocodile. 