Sicko (Michael Moore, 2007)

[lord_clyde]

Yes, Michael Moore exaggerates!

Exaggerate? He basically implies there is no poverty in France (Is there? Where are the French forum members?)!

[Steven H]

Poverty in France.

[MichaelB]

The doctor Moore interviews who works for the NHS and drives and Audi and lives in his '1 million dollar house', is this a good representation of most of the doctors there?

I haven't seen the film - but yes, that's pretty accurate.

But, as with most of Moore's claims, it needs contextualising. As I said earlier, doctors are being insanely overpaid right now thanks to government miscalculation, and it's not actually that difficult to live in a "million dollar house" when you consider the current exchange rate. One million dollars is only 500,000 British pounds - and that's by no means an unusually expensive house these days.

And there's every possibility the doctor paid considerably less for it - my own house is worth half a million dollars, but half of that was due to appreciation in value in the five years or so since it was purchased.

[lord_clyde]

It sounds like he's not exaggerating too much. I think this is his best film by the way. Unlike 'Bowling for Columbine' he has a focus and even an answer and unlike 'Farenheit 9/11' it's not just a smear campaign, although our current president is prominently featured. I think the most disturbing aspect is a scene where an audio tape is played where Richard Nixon replies "I like that" to an idea of a healthcare system that provides "less care for more profit".
Also, in the Cuba sequence, a woman buys an inhaler that would cost her 120 dollars in the US for 3.20 pesos (a nickel).

[Nothing]

yeah, Moore may not provide a nuanced picture of the NHS, but then this is not the focus of the film. And it is the example/influence of America that helps to limit spending and chisel away at the basic tenets of the NHS with Blair's public-private partnership travesty. So I would say Moore's heart is in the right place.

[David Ehrenstein]

My two cents

If you're looking for "nuance" why not try looking up your fat useless Republican asshole?

[David Ehrenstein]

Great examples, David!

[jbeall]

My two cents

If you're looking for "nuance" why not try looking up your fat useless Republican asshole?

Great blog, David! You've probably seen it already, but just in case, here's a link to a Buffalo Beast article from awhile back, "Bias, Balance and Bullshit". There are not always two sides to every story, and those who vilify Moore do so in order to draw attention away from the obvious truth that the facts don't support their claims. What does Michael Moore's weight have to do with the fact that our healthcare system is a sick joke (pun intended)?

[colinr0380]

True, you get used to those things put in place by the society and have an expectation that they will be there to help you out in times of crisis (it was fascinating hearing in that Corporation documentary about how fire departments at the beginning were run on a similar principle to automobile associations today - if you were a member and had a fire they'd put it out, if you weren't a member the whole place could be engulfed in flames and they'd drive on by!) I guess it just seems like a basic principle that a fire, any fire is put out, or that a person whatever their financial status gets medical treatment. Beyond just treating people decently it helps society out too as surely it is in the society's interest to keep people healthy, able-bodied and not a burden on the state as much as they can? With that as a fundamental principle you can move on to other more important issues, such as opposing people who undermine these rights by layering a private health care system on top of the public one and encouraging people with the cash to do so to 'opt out' and go private.

I'm glad to hear you've had good experiences davidhare. I'll add one of my own to balance my griping. A few years ago my grandmother was in danger of losing her sight completely due to cataracts yet within six months of being put on a waiting list (and being told her best bet was to go private and find thousands of pounds she didn't have for the operations) she was given operations to save her sight in both eyes. It was done in a private clinic but funded by the NHS so in the end she didn't have to pay for treatment.

I guess the film will answer this but I've often wondered how bad the situation is in the US. I don't watch much of ER, but I guess that show doesn't get much into the paying for treatment side of medicine! If you don't have medical insurance or have it paid for through your job, do you still get treated or do you just get thrown back out on the street no matter how ill you are? Or do you just get presented with an enormous bill after treatment is done and then face the prospect of figuring out how to pay for it? Whether you can afford to have your illness seen to or whether you'll just have to live with it?

[souvenir]

If you don't have medical insurance or have it paid for through your job, do you still get treated or do you just get thrown back out on the street no matter how ill you are? Or do you just get presented with an enormous bill after treatment is done and then face the prospect of figuring out how to pay for it? Whether you can afford to have your illness seen to or whether you'll just have to live with it?

Sometimes you don't make it back to the street. Those questions are quite the can of worms though. Hospital to hospital, area to area, it will vary. Hospitals have been known to send sick, uninsured patients to other hospitals across town, basically dropping them off so they're not burdened by the uninsured's inability to pay.

[David Ehrenstein]

The anti-Moore propaganda campaign has begun BigTime in the "Mainstream." Last night on the CBS Evening News Jeff Greenfield, a "Mainstream" designated liberal (ie. "I'm not really a liberal, I just play one on TV") had a piece about the film. He went on about how certain points it made would provoke "question" -- without mentioning what those questions might be and who might make them -- while claiming that though many might see the film, it wasn't likely to effect the ongoing Presidential election campaign.

In other words he was talking to his Beltway masters, not the Great Unwashed, to reassure them that everything was OK and they need not worry.

All this a full week before Sicko reaches the general public.

They're shitting-in-their-pants scared of this film.

[exte]

I hope this film permanently knocks down the door of the issue into the national debate. No more placation and what could maybe/possibly be. I hope this fucker earns more than two hundred million and is nominated for best picture, maybe. I hope Al Gore enters the race. I hope Bloomberg and Schwarzenegger enter the race, too. And I wish more films like this were made, and I hope to God Moore lives a good twenty more years to make them...

BTW, has anyone refrained from watching this online? I know I'm saving it for the theater...

[tryavna]

Or do you just get presented with an enormous bill after treatment is done and then face the prospect of figuring out how to pay for it?

Well, speaking as someone whose (lackluster) insurance is provided through his job, this last option was the one presented to me when I had to have a series of tests run about 6 - 8 months ago. Fortunately, it wasn't serious, so it was only a one-time visit. The problem was that, because of the nature of some of the tests, the insurance only covered about 40% of the bill, not the 60% I expected. Those loopholes can come as a real kick in the balls, and I can't imagine how I would have managed if it had been an ongoing problem.

[colinr0380]

Ain't It Cool News review.

[davebert]

Gotta love those message board posts below the review, too! (Which wasn't actually that great a review, but whatever.)

I think it may be Moore's best movie yet, and I do hope it makes loads of cash even with the early release of the torrent, only because cash funds more movies and cash also indicates more people have seen it. It's such a persuasive film that I think anyone whose actually seen it--rather than just reacting to the idea of Moore himself--will be compelled to agree things are truly fucked up here.

Oh, and last year I had this really crazy stomach illness that suddenly fell on me and turned me vegan (from vegetarian) and made me nauseas a couple times a day. I tried to do some diagnostic tests to see if they could figure out exactly what was wrong, but had to stop after a two big procedures (CAT scan, endoscopy) because I simply ran out of money to find out, since insurance only covers so much. So it was something I lived with for six months until it gradually healed and life returned to normal, whether from time or comparative lack of stress, I dunno. But what certainly didn't heal it was the medical system, which seems absurd.

[patrick]

From IMDB:

Documentary filmmaker Michael Moore has locked the negative of his new film Sicko away to make sure government officials can't confiscate the project ahead of its June 29 release. The controversial director faces jail after reportedly breaking trade laws to make parts of his hard-hitting new movie, which takes aim at America's health system. And, as he fights allegations his trip to Cuba to shoot footage was illegal, Moore isn't worried about jail time - he fears his film could be confiscated. He says, "We've responded to the government, saying we did not break the law, that this is the work of journalism. They want us to name the names of the people that we took there and I won't do that. We've taken the necessary precautions to protect the negative of the film so that it can't be confiscated. The next move is theirs."

So does anyone really think he's going to go to jail over this?

[domino harvey]

I think the government knows if they jail him, they'll only martyr him and the film... I doubt it'd happen.

[tavernier]

I think the government knows if they jail him, they'll only martyr him and the film... I doubt it'd happen.

But then again, our government is currently being run by such inept, moronic idiots (does that about describe them?) that they may just do that, regardless of the positive press it would garner for the film.

[Antoine Doinel]

So does anyone really think he's going to go to jail over this?

I doubt it. I think the Republicans are just going through the motions to please their pharma company backers, but won't do anything concrete as they are probably aware it will only get Moore more sympathy.

[exte]

I think the government knows if they jail him, they'll only martyr him and the film... I doubt it'd happen.

In that case, I hope they give him the electric chair. I'd love to see this issue behind us, once and for all. It's like we're still staring at this dilemma, you know?

[domino harvey]

President Bush will address the nation tonight at 8PM EST to confirm that he has authorized troops to mobilize outside all AMC theatres

[Roger_Thornhill]

As an American who recently battled a rare disease that took more than two years to diagnosis and another year of treatment to get to a level where everyday isn't a living hell, I'm greatly looking forward to this film. I understand Moore's target is the insurance companies and how they shaft people on a regular basis, which is exactly what happened to me especially since my condition is rare they balked at a number of tests and doctors that I visited. In several cases I had to get my sister, who's a lawyer, to give them a call to scare the piss out of them in to covering various things. It seems like a pipe dream that this film could influence changes in the US health care system, but one can hope. His last film didn't exactly work out in the end, but at least he tried.

[souvenir]

His last film didn't exactly work out in the end, but at least he tried.

And the one before that, and before that...

I like Michael Moore's attempts, but they seem to do little of anything other than stir up brief debate among the already converted choir.

[domino harvey]

in his defense, when's the last time a documentary changed the world

[colinr0380]

Another article about the film!