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Some ] critics did not like Michael Moore's glamorizing the ] system.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.thestar.com/artsentertainment/article/215801 | title=Canadian media needle Sicko | publisher=The Toronto Star | accessdate=2007-05-24}}</ref> Peter Howell, in '']'', wrote: "Sicko makes it seem as if Canada's socialized medicine is flawless and that Canadians are satisfied with the status quo." Howell wrote that he and other Canadian journalists criticized Moore for inaccurately contending that Canadians only had to wait for minutes for health care, rather than much longer waiting periods. <ref>Howell, Peter, "Canadian media needle Sicko: Moore's health-care film gets rough reception" article in '']'', ], ], accessed ], ]</ref> Some ] critics did not like Michael Moore's glamorizing the ] system.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.thestar.com/artsentertainment/article/215801 | title=Canadian media needle Sicko | publisher=The Toronto Star | accessdate=2007-05-24}}</ref> Peter Howell, in '']'', wrote: "Sicko makes it seem as if Canada's socialized medicine is flawless and that Canadians are satisfied with the status quo." Howell wrote that he and other Canadian journalists criticized Moore for inaccurately contending that Canadians only had to wait for minutes for health care, rather than much longer waiting periods. <ref>Howell, Peter, "Canadian media needle Sicko: Moore's health-care film gets rough reception" article in '']'', ], ], accessed ], ]</ref>

==Film's fallacies==

The film claims the United States has the worst infant mortality rate in the Western world. However, according to the World Factbook, Croatia, Belarus, Slovakia, Estonia, the Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands, Bermuda, Hungary, Chile, Latvia, Macedonia, Russia, Barbados, Uruguay, Argentina, Aruba, Jamaica, Panama, the British Virgin Islands, Antigua and Barbuda, Mexico, Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela, El Salvador (which Moore falsely claims has a lower infant mortality rate), the Bahamas, Trinidad and Tobago, Belize, Honduras, Paraguay, Nicaragua, Brazil, the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Peru and Bolivia all have higher infant mortality rates. <ref> World Factbook Infant Mortality Rate</ref>


==Assessments of Moore's methods== ==Assessments of Moore's methods==

Revision as of 14:58, 23 June 2007

2007 film
Sicko
Promotional poster for Sicko
Directed byMichael Moore
Written byMichael Moore
Produced byMichael Moore
Distributed byThe Weinstein Company
Lions Gate
Release datesUnited States/Canada June 29, 2007
LanguageEnglish
For the pop punk band, see Sicko (band).

Sicko is a documentary film by Michael Moore, scheduled for release on June 29 2007. It investigates the American health care system with a focus on the behavior of large health insurance companies and contrasts the U.S. system with those of other countries with universal health care coverage.

On February 3, 2006, Moore requested, via his blog, that people send "Health Care Horror Stories" in an effort to share his view on the health care industry.

When asked about this movie, Michael Moore said, "If people ask, we tell them Sicko is a comedy about 45 million people with no health care in the richest country on Earth." On April 19 2007, Moore announced on his website that Sicko had been selected for the 2007 Cannes Film Festival where it had its world premiere on May 19, 2007. Moore also announced a June 29, 2007 release date for the U.S. and Canada.

MPAA Rating

The MPAA gave Sicko an official rating of PG-13 for Brief Strong Language.

Synopsis

Sicko deals with the problems of the American for-profit health insurance and pharmaceutical industries. Its main message is that a government-run, free health care is a better model than the present US health-care system.

U.S. health-care system

The movie starts retelling the stories of people who were denied health care, either because they did not have health insurance or because the insurance companies found a way not to pay them. Some former "repented" employees of insurance companies are also interviewed, and describe dubious practices of their former employers, such as considering the best doctor the one who could best dismiss a patient.

At one point, the movie recounts a situation in which homeless patients were abandoned by Los Angeles hospitals after they had received some medical treatment. (In May 2007, Kaiser Permanente, a large nonprofit health insurer, settled criminal and civil lawsuits by agreeing to establish new rules for discharging homeless patients; paying $55,000 in fines; covering the city attorney’s investigative costs; and spending $500,000 on the homeless for follow-up care and other services.)

One scene shows a clip of Congressional testimony given in 1996. Dr. Linda Peeno, a former medical reviewer for the health insurer Humana, said her job was to save money for the company. "I denied a man a necessary operation", she testified, referring to a decision she made in 1987. (Her testimony "has been widely recounted over the years," according to a news article in The New York Times. A spokesman for Humana said the case Peeno referred to had involved whether a man had coverage that would pay for a heart transplant, and Peeno correctly found the insurance didn't cover the procedure.)

The movie describes then the connection between lobby groups such as PhRMA, the largest and most powerful lobbyist block in Washington D.C., and political groups; Hillary Clinton is accused of being a sell-out for accepting financing for her campaign from the pharmaceutical industry, even if she had tried to introduce full coverage when she had become first lady.

Health-care systems elsewhere

The American system is then compared to those of Canada, the United Kingdom and France, which have free and full coverage for their citizens, including interviews with Tony Benn, members of the local middle class and Americans residing in those countries. Moore tries, among other things, to locate a place where British have to pay something in a hospital (finding a counter labeled "Cashier", only to find that patients actually get money there to reimburse their trip to the hospital), and follows a French doctor who visits patients at their homes. He also finds out that government helpers literally "do the laundry" for new mothers to support them.

Some volunteers who lent their help during the World Trade Center attacks of 2001, and who subsequently developed a series of medical conditions (some physical and some psychological), are then presented. Since they are not firefighters, they are not government employees and the government will not provide care for their ailments.

Since the US government declared that the enemy combatants detained at the U.S. Guantanamo Bay detainment camp have full medical coverage, Moore takes three ships and sails from Miami for Cuba (even if the details of the trip are not revealed, ostensibly because of a ban imposed by the Department of Homeland Security). Arrived at the entrance channel to Gitmo, on a different boat (clearly waving the flag of Cuba), Moore tries to ask for access with a megaphone, but no response is given and they finally give up when a siren is blown from the base.

The group then moves on to Havana, where they can receive free medical treatment they would otherwise not be able to afford. They are hospitalised there and receive treatment, having only to provide their names and birth date. Moore declares he asked the doctors to provide them only the same level of care they would give to Cuban citizens. He also interviews the daughter of Che Guevara, who grew to become a pediatrician (Ernesto Guevara was in fact a physician himself).

Although trip participants signed confidentiality agreements prohibiting them from talking about the trip, some thought the trip a success, with The New York Post quoting John Feal, head of the Fealgood Foundation which raises money for 9/11 first responders, that “From what I hear through the grapevine those people who went are utterly happy."

Moore helping a critic

The film's finale is what Moore provides as an example of "taking care of each other, no matter the differences". When the director found out that the website moorewatch.com would have to close because webmaster Jim Kenefick needed money to pay his sick wife's medical bills, he sent an anonymous check for US$12,000. However, Jim Kenefick disputes Moore's portrayal of the event, and now claims that other donors had provided the necessary funds to maintain the website, although he singled out Moore and a second anonymous benefactor for praise in an earlier entry in which he appealed for a miracle.

Reception

The movie has received positive reviews: following early viewings at the Cannes Film Festival, Variety described Sicko "an affecting and entertaining dissection of the American health care industry", concluding it should play well internationally. Moore has nonetheless been quoted as saying, "I know the storm awaits me back in the United States."

In his New York Times review, critic A.O. Scott said the movie is "the funniest and the most tightly edited" of any Moore film to date.

A Fox News review reported, "Filmmaker Michael Moore's brilliant and uplifting new documentary, "Sicko," deals with the failings of the U.S. healthcare system, both real and perceived. But this time around, the controversial documentarian seems to be letting the subject matter do the talking, and in the process shows a new maturity."

British film magazine Empire commented that "Sicko is the film that truly reveals Moore as an auteur."

On May 19, 2007 more than 2,000 people applauded loudly after the film's first Cannes screening at the packed Grand Theatre Lumiere, the main festival auditorium.

The North American premiere of Sicko was held in London, Ontario at the Silver City movie theatre at Masonville Place on June 8 2007, with Moore himself in attendance. Sicko features patients from the London, Ontario area.

Criticism of the film's argumentation

Description of Cuban health-care system

Kyle Smith, a New York Post film critic, wrote that Moore asserts he asked Cuban officials to give his group exactly the same care that a Cuban would receive, "and that’s exactly what they got". Smith writes that Moore treats the Cuban health-care system with kid gloves, although he's capable of taking a hard look at American offiicals: "You can’t film anywhere in Castro’s Alcatraz without government say-so, meaning the whole scene was as phony as what happens when Frank Bruni walks into a four-star restaurant, Moore solemnly reports Cuba’s official health statistics, which are of course a fiction Moore's motto is to trust no authority figure from cringing corporate spokesman on up to Washington windbags. Except dictators. Dictators, he’ll take your word for it."

Rich Lowry, editor of National Review wrote in his syndicated column that Moore whitewashes the health-care system in Cuba, describing it as better than that in the United States, although "According to a report in the Canadian National Post: 'Hospitals are falling apart, surgeons lack basic supplies and must reuse latex gloves. Patients must buy their sutures on the black market and provide bed sheets and food for extended hospital stays.'"

In an interview with Time Magazine, Moore states "I’m not trumpeting Castro or his regime. I just want to say to fellow Americans, "C’mon, we’re the United States! If they can we can do it." Fidel Castro is also referred to as a "dictator" in the film.

Description of other nations' health-care systems

Both A.O. Scott and Kyle Smith say Moore's contention that there are massive problems with the American health care system are common knowledge and not very controversial. Smith criticizes Moore for presenting health care systems in Canada, Britain and France with the same uncritical attitude the filmmaker took with Cuba, although there are significant criticisms of those systems within their own countries. According to Scott, Moore's descriptions of health care in other nations have "a bit of theatrical faux-naïveté", and "the utopian picture of France in “Sicko” may be overstated", but Scott dismisses the problem by saying a filmmaker praised in Cannes would naturally be pro-French.

Some Canadian critics did not like Michael Moore's glamorizing the Canadian health care system. Peter Howell, in The Toronto Star, wrote: "Sicko makes it seem as if Canada's socialized medicine is flawless and that Canadians are satisfied with the status quo." Howell wrote that he and other Canadian journalists criticized Moore for inaccurately contending that Canadians only had to wait for minutes for health care, rather than much longer waiting periods.

Film's fallacies

The film claims the United States has the worst infant mortality rate in the Western world. However, according to the World Factbook, Croatia, Belarus, Slovakia, Estonia, the Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands, Bermuda, Hungary, Chile, Latvia, Macedonia, Russia, Barbados, Uruguay, Argentina, Aruba, Jamaica, Panama, the British Virgin Islands, Antigua and Barbuda, Mexico, Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela, El Salvador (which Moore falsely claims has a lower infant mortality rate), the Bahamas, Trinidad and Tobago, Belize, Honduras, Paraguay, Nicaragua, Brazil, the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Peru and Bolivia all have higher infant mortality rates.

Assessments of Moore's methods

Moore has been criticized for the methods he uses in reporting and presenting his argument in the film, particularly in the way he marshals evidence. TIME film critic Richard Corliss, in a generally positive description of the movie, wrote: "There are no policy wonks, crunching numbers and saying soberly how much a national health care plan would cost U.S. citizens. In a 2hr. movie, Moore could have taken a couple mins. to tote up the expected tab."

"any of the major pieces of evidence are ones that have been widely reported elsewhere and in some cases date back 20 years," according to The New York Times.

Smith criticizes Moore for using anecdotes without attempting to check the accuracy of the statements of the people featured and interviewed in the film. Concerning the description in the film that one woman gave about her experience with a health insurer, Smith writes: "There is no way to know whether this claim is true because Moore’s style is to present whatever information he likes without checking it." Smith noted that Moore told Entertainment Weekly "absolutely not", when asked whether he felt any need to get the insurance company's side of the story. In the Entertainment Weekly interview, Moore was asked: "Don't you have an obligation to at least give the insurance companies the chance to say no to you? Don't you owe them a call?" He replied: "Absolutely not. They already have their forum. It's called the nightly news. Their story is told over and over again. You never hear the other side."

Scott points out that Moore does present some statistics ("grim actuarial data about life expectancy and infant mortality; damning tallies of dollars donated to political campaigns") along with anecdotes. The film doesn't make a detailed case for a socialized system to replace it, he writes. "'Sicko' is not a fine-grained analysis of policy alternatives. This film presents, instead, a simple compare-and-contrast exercise. Here is our way, and here is another way " Scott applauds Moore for "insisting that such a system should exist, and also, rather ingeniously, daring his critics to explain why it shouldn’t."

Piracy

Although the film is scheduled to be released on June 29 2007, the film was leaked onto the internet in early to mid June 2007. Moore, who previously stated his support for internet downloading, denies leaking the video himself and an investigation has been held as to the source of the internet leak.

Treasury Department probe

In a May 2, 2007 letter, the Office of Foreign Assets Control informed Moore that he was the subject of a civil investigation stemming from the filmmaker's March trip to Cuba. In the letter to Moore, a Treasury official noted that the department had no record of Moore obtaining a license that authorized him to "engage in travel-related transactions involving Cuba," alleging that Moore violated the United States embargo against Cuba. A duplicate master copy of the film is being held in Canada in case American authorities attempt to seize the film as part of the criminal investigation against Moore that arose from taking American 9/11 rescue workers to Cuba for medical treatment.

References

  1. "An Update from Michael Moore (and an invitation to his film festival)". www.michaelmoore.com. Retrieved 2006-09-05.
  2. Moore, Michael (2006). "Send Me Your Health Care Horror Stories... an appeal from Michael Moore". michaelmoore.com. {{cite journal}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  3. "An Update from Michael Moore (and an invitation to his film festival)". MichaelMoore.com. Michael Moore. Retrieved 2007-06-16.
  4. Freudenheim, Milt and Klaussmann, Liza, "Film Offers New Talking Points in Health Care Debate", news article in The New York Times, May 22, 2007
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference mf was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. "Moore unveils Sicko at Cannes". InTheNews.co.uk. 2007-05-14. Retrieved 2007-05-23.
  7. "Controversial Michael Moore Flick "Sicko" Will Compare U.S. Health Care with Cuba's". pnhp.org. 2007-04-25. Retrieved 2007-05-24.
  8. Sciretta, Peter (2007-05-18). "Michael Moore Helps His Biggest Nemesis". Slash Film. Retrieved 2007-05-24.
  9. Kenefick, Jim (2007-06-12). "Jim_kenefick_and_moorewatch_as_presented_by_michael_moore_in_sicko". Moorewatch. Retrieved 2007-06-17.
  10. Kenefick, Jim (2004-12-21). "I need a Christmas miracle". Moorewatch. Retrieved 2007-06-17.
  11. Alissa Simon. "Review: Sicko". Variety. Reed. Retrieved 2007-05-19.
  12. Andrew O'Hehir. "Sicko". salon.com. Salon. Retrieved 2007-06-16.
  13. ^ Scott, A.O., "Open Wide and Say ‘Shame’", film review, The New York Times, June 22, 2007
  14. http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,273875,00.html
  15. "No Country For Old Men and Sicko". Empire. Retrieved 2007-05-19.
  16. "Michael Moore's Sicko gets audience thumbs-up at Cannes". CBC Arts. CBC. Retrieved 2007-05-21.
  17. ^ Smith, Kyle (movie reviewer for The New York Post), "Kyle Smith on Michael Moore's 'Sicko'" entry at (unnamed) movie blog at the New York Post Web site, dated June 18, 2007, accessed June 19, 2007
  18. Lowry, Rich, "Sicko: Michael Moore's sickness.", reprint of his syndicated column at National Review Online Web site, May 22, 2007, accessed June 19, 2007
  20. "Moore in The E.R." pnhp.org. 2007-05-17. Retrieved 2007-05-24.
  21. "Canadian media needle Sicko". The Toronto Star. Retrieved 2007-05-24.
  22. Howell, Peter, "Canadian media needle Sicko: Moore's health-care film gets rough reception" article in The Toronto Star, May 20, 2007, accessed June 19, 2007
  23. World Factbook Infant Mortality Rate
  24. Corliss, Roger, "Sicko is Socko", article at Time magazine Web site, dated May 19, 2007, accessed June 19, 2007
  25. Fierman, Daniel, "Ready for Moore?", article in Entertainment Weekly "Summer Movie Preview 2007" (undated), accessed June 19, 2007
  26. Goldstein, Gregg (2007-06-18). "Pirated "Sicko" surfaces on YouTube". Reuters. Retrieved 2007-06-18.
  27. "Uncle Sam Probes Michael Moore (Treasury Department investigating director's unauthorized Cuba trip)". thesmokinggun.com. Retrieved 2007-05-11.
  28. "Michael Moore In Trouble For Cuba Trip (Treasury Investigation; Moore Took Sept. 11 Workers To Banned Island For Treatment)". www.michaelmoore.com. Retrieved 2007-05-14.
  29. "Moore fears film seizure after Cuba trip". www.reuters.com. Reuters. Retrieved 2007-07-11.

See also

External links

Reviews
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