Director GUY RITCHIE has defended his 2002 movie SWEPT AWAY - insisting he doesn't understand why it was mauled by the critics.

The moviemaker worked alongside wife Madonna - who played the lead role - in the film, and compares the film's bad press to that garnered by the singer when she chose to adopt Malawian orphan David Banda last year (06).

He tells MTV.com, "I still don't get what the f**k that was all about. I mean it was like the reaction when my wife decided to adopt a starving child . I couldn't make any sense of it. The child was nearly dead. (His) siblings had died. And she stopped that.

"How do you get demonised for that?"