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Sicko

(2007) Documentary - Rated PG-13

Directed by: Michael Moore

Overview: Filmmaker Michael Moore diagnoses the malady within the American health-care system.

RATINGS:

  • Sicko

    Filmmaker Michael Moore diagnoses the malady afflicting America's health-care system and talks about why millions of Americans are still without adequate health coverage and treatment.
    • Directed by: Michael Moore
    • Year: 2007
    • MPAA Rating:   PG-13
    • Genre:   Documentary
    • Running Time: 1:53
    • Language:   English
    • Country:   United States
    • Color type:  Color

    Photos

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    Reviews

    REELZ REVIEW
    "Moore offers some compelling, if only incomplete, info on America’s health care struggles...."  [more]
    — Jeff Otto

    User Comments and Video Reviews

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    • Jeff Otto

      ReelzChannel.com, June 29, 2007


      Moore offers some compelling, if only incomplete, info on America’s health care struggles.


      Sure, Michael Moore is an ego-maniac. I doubt that’s something even his detractors would disagree with. He loves being in the spotlight. Moore also loves to ruffle feathers, and even if you don't agree with his tactics, it’s hard not to agree with (and be amused by) some of his targets.


      Moore’s latest documentary is entitled Sicko and the target is American Health Care. Having had my own struggles with health care over the years, this was a topic that immediately piqued my interest. Now, to preface, I’m not the most political guy on the planet. Sure, I have my perspectives, but I don’t believe they have a place in the review of a movie. This review is about how effective Sicko is as a documentary, not whether I politically agree or disagree with Mr. Moore.


      In the past, I’ve been a fan of Moore’s work. He’s a very effective documentarian. Roger & Me, The Big One, Bowling for Columbine... All compelling works. On the other hand, I felt Fahrenheit 9/11 was more a series of rants designed as a sort of “Fan film” for the already-converted rather than an effective documentary designed to convince those on the fence (or even on the other side of the fence) to see Moore’s perspective.


      Although Sicko is a vast improvement over the spotty Fahrenheit, Michael Moore still would have failed my ninth grade debate class. A successful debater always presents the counterpoints and then tries to prove that the positive points they are defending overwhelm the negative points. But somehow, Moore hasn’t really learned this, or perhaps his ego has gotten in the way of his development of a filmmaker (i.e. making more balanced movies). Still, with that said, I enjoyed Sicko. It’s just that if I were less informed, I might have made my plans to go ahead and move to Cuba after exiting the theater.


      For the first 30 or more minutes of Sicko, Moore stays behind the camera, which is where he is most effective. He presents a series of “real people” who tell of their horrors dealing with health care in America. Some didn’t have health care at all and some found that their current plans would do just about anything to avoid covering them when they were most in need. The girl who didn’t get “pre-approval” for an ambulance ride is the most amusing. I had a similar issue with a ridiculously overpriced ambulance ride once myself.


      When Moore lets these people tell their stories, Sicko is exceptionally compelling. One woman’s tale of her daughter being denied entrance at a hospital and sent to another is positively crushing. The girl died because she did not receive care in time. Another woman’s husband died when his insurance determined he was too low on the list to receive an “experimental” treatment. If you can watch these moments and not find yourself a little watery-eyed, well then, you’re a tougher man than I.


      After these tales, Moore enters the film and the rest of Sicko centers around a tour of other countries and their comparative health care systems. He goes to Canada, England, France and, finally, Havana, Cuba. This is also the point where Sicko offers its most incomplete points. All of these foreign health care systems are presented as virtual utopias. Doctors are friendly despite lower pay, no one waits in lines, there’s no bill at the end and everyone is treated like a king. Of course, there are other sides to this, especially in Cuba where, to put it lightly, there are some rather compelling downsides to Havana life.


      It’s interesting hearing other perspectives on these points made by Moore because, in essence, he is only presenting his perspective and manipulating that perspective to such a point as to almost be construed as fiction.


      Visiting my barber after the screening, he told me about his Canadian friend who, when faced with a necessary surgery to save his life, traveled over the border to the U.S. When asked why, he responded simply that he “needed the surgery now” and risked dying should he wait for his turn on a lengthy waiting list back in Canada.


      Moore mostly plays the viewpoints of these other health care systems for humor’s sake. And yes, some of it is pretty funny. France provides a baby nurse for new mothers who not only cares for the baby, but even helps the new mother with little tasks around the house like cooking dinner and laundry. The laundry becomes a running joke for the rest of the movie, with Moore referring to how he’d like to see the U.S. Government do his laundry.


      Sicko is an entertaining movie. Real people telling their stories is compelling to watch. Seeing more evidence of how evil health care companies are is fascinating, even if it isn’t necessarily a surprise. As pure entertainment, I recommend Sicko. It offers a glimpse into the issues facing American health care and presents some alternative systems. And while making the changes needed to improve our own health care is clearly a far more complicated issue than Moore makes it out to be, Sicko is important in the respect that it brings these issues to the forefront and will spurn new and (let’s hope) positive changes.


      ReelzChannel Rating:  7

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  • Crew

    Director Michael Moore
    Producer Meghan O'Hara

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ReelzChannel.com's Early Oscar Picks for 2007-2008
By Heather Huntington & Jeff Otto

MOVIE NEWS

Tuesday, November 6

Tuesday, July 17

  • Moore makes enemies at CNN, friends in Cuba.

    The hoopla around Michael Moore's latest documentary, SiCKO, continues to stir weeks after the film's initial release. Luckily, as Moore knows better than most, there's no such thing as bad publicity.

    Shortly before a recent interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer, the network ran a report by Dr. Sanjay Gupta claiming that "No matter how much Moore fudged the facts — and he did fudge some facts — there is one thing everyone can agree on: the (health care) system here should be far better."

    The report lead to an enraged debate between Moore and Blitzer as well as a debate with Gupta on Larry King Live later that week.

    Moore then told the network "I'm about to become your worst nightmare."

    CNN responded by admitting to a few errors in their report, but also went on to state, "It's ironic that someone who has made a career out of holding powerful interests accountable is so sensitive to having his own work held up to the light by impartial journalists, as we did in our examination of SiCKO."

    Moore now says he will move on. Maybe he should consider Cuba?

    Reuters reports that Cuba's reaction to SiCKO is quite the opposite, as it has given Cuba its best publicity since Fidel Castro's 1959 revolution.

    "Michael Moore spurred more interest in our health system than the 40-odd years we have spent providing health to our people," said Dr. Jaime Davis, who provided free check-ups and treatment to Moore's group.

    "Moore is showing the reality of the Cuban health system and that a very positive message for us," Davis said.


    Posted 07/17/2007 by Jeff

    Related: Michael Moore | Sicko

Sunday, July 15

  • Potter casts his spell on the weekend box office

    $140 million! Holy cow!As predicted, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix swept the box offie this weekend, taking in $140 million in domestic recepts (since Weds), and $190.3 million overseas. That brings its grand total to $330 million worldwide, Variety reports.

    Transformers, Ratatouille, and Live Free or Die Hard took second, third, and fourth place at the box office, earning $36 million, $18 million, and $10.9 million respectively.

    The torture-porn horror flick with the flashy advertising campaign Captivity had an especially weak open--taking in only $1.5 million and coming in twelfth. Michael Moore's health care documentary, Sicko, did well, on the other hand-holding its position at number nine and taking in $2.6 million.


    Posted 07/15/2007 by Heather

    Related: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix | Captivity | Sicko | Transformers | Ratatouille | Live Free or Die Hard

  • Canadian nurses see Sicko for free

    Nationalized healthcare isn't the only thing that's free in Canada. Nurses across the Great White North are being treated to gratis screenings of Michael Moore's Sicko when they show their IDs at the door, says The Hollywood Reporter.

    Alliance Atlantis Motion Picture Distribution, a Canadian movie distributor, was inspired when Moore reimbursed a Canadian nursing union for 150 tickets to his documentary on the problems in the American healthcare system. While this may sound like typical Moore grandstanding, anyone who has seen the movie can tell he has the utmost respect for national health service employees.

    Alliance Atlantis will be offering free tickets to nurses who decide to see the movie at Cineplex, Landmark, and Empire theaters across Canada this Monday to Thursday. So if you're a Canadian nurse, go get your props for free at the theater. And may they keep you warm during those long, cold winters you have.


    Posted 07/15/2007 by Heather

    Related: Michael Moore | Sicko

Sunday, July 1

Friday, June 29

  • By the Numbers

    A rundown of our reviews of this weekend's new releases:  

    Ratatouille Ratatouille  6
    "The movie picks up steam in the third act and finally becomes genuinely interesting. I only wish it had been able to do that sooner." [Full Review]

     

    Live Free or Die Hard Live Free or Die Hard  9
    "Bruce Willis doesn’t miss a beat stepping back into the shoes of John McClane. At 52, he’s kicking a** like a teenager."  [Full Review]

     

    EveningEvening  4
    "Nothing more than an inflated Lifetime movie with excellent art direction...this is one melancholy melodrama that is best avoided."  [Full Review] 

     

    Sicko Sicko  7
    "I enjoyed Sicko. It’s just that if I were less informed, I might have made my plans to go ahead and move to Cuba after exiting the theater." [Full Review]  

     

    The iPhone The iPhone  4
    "Yeah right, like I'm gonna pay 600 bucks for a freakin' cell phone...oh wait, I just did. Damn you, Steve Jobs!"  [Full Review] 

     


    Posted 06/29/2007 by Thomas

    Related: Ratatouille | Live Free or Die Hard | Sicko | Evening

Wednesday, May 16

Wednesday, May 9

  • Moore a Sicko in June

    The Weinstein Company has set a release date of June 29th for Michael Moore's latest rant movie, Sicko.

    The documentary is Moore's first effort since 2004's Fahrenheit 9/11, a work that was universally both loved and loathed depending on who you ask.

    Sicko centers on Moore's need to be loved the health care debate, asking the question of how there could be 45 million Americans without health care in the world's richest country.


    Next Showing: Sicko hits theaters on June 29th.

    Posted 05/09/2007 by Jeff

    Related: Michael Moore | Sicko

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