Movie Review: Sicko
Movies Reviews
By Anne Brodie Jun 27, 2007, 13:23 GMT
If you liked this story please support M&C and Buzz the site on Yahoo.
Latest Headlines in Movies
- 1. In photos: 'Sherlock Holmes film set in London'
- 2. Trailer for David S. Goyer's The Unborn
- 3. New Transporter 3 trailer
- 4. An array of stars at Abu Dhabi's film festival
- 5. New full trailer for Edward Zwick's 'Defiance'!
Talkback
Add your comment (no registration required)
the problem with Moore is that he manipulates the data. For example he makes a major point that people in other countries live longer than in the US, presumely because of lack of health care.
More likely because like Mr. Moore we eat too much, get no exercise, smoke and drink to excess. National health care will do nothing for these ills.
Why would I want a health care system with the quality of public education, the efficiency of the postal service and the compassion of the IRS.
He discounts waiting times in countries with Socialized medicine, these are in fact quite real.
Above all Moore is an expert at Propaganda.
I think it is interesting that so many people are buying into this propaganda and not looking at some of the possible causes of why our health care system is the way it is. First of all, nationalized health care in France takes over 50% from every pay check you receive. You think everyone in the US is going to be ok with that? Second of all, perhaps the costs of hospitals that is parlayed onto every day people could be caused by the thousands of illegal immigrants that consistently receive care in the US. Maybe it's the individuals who are receiving health care with no insurance. I used to buy into the fact that it was so impossible to get insurance and what were we doing for these people...then I got to the real world. I graduated college with thousands of dollars in debt and a VERY mediocre job and I was still able to get independant coverage. Overall I think Moore likes to highlight what he sees as problems and not really explore ALL the possible causes, only the ones he believes are legitimate. Overall this is a problem with Americans on the whole...we believe what we're told. No matter what your political ties may be, ALWAYS question the 'news'. Everything is told from a point of view now and you'll only be hurting yourself if you don't look into the deeper causes of why things are being said the way they are.
America is kept aloft by dissent, so god bless Mr. Moore. I am constantly amused at the people who attack Moore as anti-America, when you consider the similar roles played by Jefferson, Franklin and the founding fathers. Our government, and especially the current administration, is rife with propagandists and media manipulators. Why do people continue to forgive the Bush administration for the outright lies told by Cheney, yet criticize Moore for his media tactics? Are you really more frightened by a film director or the group of ill-advised, uninformed, morally bankrupt megalomaniacs who comprise our executive branch? How far backwards are you willing to bend to make excuses for this murderous regime? I have to laugh when I hear conservatives brand Moore or the media as anti-American. The continued support of Bush and his cronies is anti-American.
WHAT KIND OF AN IDIOT WOULD SAY THAT THIS COUNTRY HAS THE BEST HEALTH CARE SYSTEM IN THE WORLD SURE! IF YOU CAN AFFORD IT. MICHAEL MOORE BRINGS OUT THE SELFISHNESS OF THIS COUNTRY AND YOU MORONS DONT LIKE TO HEAR ABOUT IT
I'm just happy the right wing doesn't use propaganda - only mr. moore does it seams.
Talk about puppy-love. Anne definitely has the hots for Moore and certainly wouldn't allow objective considerations come into play when dropping to her knees to review this.
Good lord, lady ...
America may not be the best place in the world to live, but its still better than alot of places. What's great about America is that we have the opportunity to talk about how bad it does or doesn't suck to live here. America does not have the perfect health care system but we did get breaks other places- like property taxes. Apparently, though, Americans will attack anything just to be complaining. If it was reversed we would be griping about property taxes and would 'gladly pay less tax for health care for the prices to go down.'
Moore's film may be touching, but that's about it. In traditional
Michael Moore style, he takes a few extreme health care system
'failings' (like the people being rejected for being too thin) and
implies that this is the norm. I noticed that he didn't give us any
figures on the number of people who are routinely rejected because
they are too thin.
But in this case, we can probably forgive his assault on
reason. Health care is important! This is an issue that pits thousands
of poor, sick children against the billion dollar insurance industry!
A national program is obviously needed to ensure that they receive the
best care possible. For this, Moore turns to Europe's nationalized
health care systems, which replaces privatization (prioritization
based on what someone is willing to pay) with prioritization based on
'preceived need.'
Moore shows us Annette Noe, an American child which does not receive a
second ear implant because of a callous insurance company. When Moore
complains, the insurance company grants the operation, fearing bad
publicity. After all, bad publicity affects the bottom line. Moore
does not mention (or maybe he doesn't know about) the strikingly
similar case of four-year-old Elias Dillner, who after being fitted
with his first implant, was told by the Swedish government that the
second operation could not be 'prioritized.' The family would 'need to
wait.' They could not even opt to pay the 40K operation fee themselves
because in the words of Swedish legislator Robert Uitto 'People
shouldn't, on principle, be allowed to purchase care in the public
system.'
Forgive us Michael Moore. After seeing the inefficient systems that
the US government uses to provide education, Social Security, and
military security, we Americans are a bit skeptical when we are told
that health care is somehow a task that the public sector is
overqualified to provide. The sooner we get fools like Moore out of
the debate on health care, the sooner we can have an honest discussion
on how to make the system more efficient, not less. Ironically, Moore
himself hints at the first step. Let's stop giving the officials in
Washington so much control over how we treat ourselves. Let's take
away the power that billion dollar companies and their lobbies are
trying to buy with million dollar campaign contributions. This will
open up the playing field for smaller insurance companies to enter the
market.
The ear implant example used in this comment was taken from
www.reason.com/news/show/120998.html
Anyone that puts down Moore's Sicko is (1) making money in some way off of sick people in this country, (2) being paid to spread lies by others who are making money off of sick people in this country, or (3) just down right ignorant.
Latest from M&C Blogs
JayJun 27th, 2007 - 14:32:59
Michael Moore is a very succesful propagandist and comic. His films are always entertaining and usually tap into a 'hot button' controversial topic at the time. However, he rearranges, obliterates and changes so many facts that his material needs to be regarded as pure entertainment, not a documentary or work of non-fiction. For example, this particular movie highlights the wonderful availability of adequate health care for everyone in Cuba. Unfortuantely for the Cubans, this is not the case. Ancedotal evidence proves this by the sheer number of Cubans trying to come to America.
American health care is expensive and has horrible flaws; however, Canada, England and Cuba are not true utopian socities where perfect health care is available to all. I can tell when someone is trying to sell me something, and Michael Moore does a very convincing job, but I am not buying.
Report this comment