Sicko (Special Edition)

Product Details

Director : Michael Moore
Actor : Michael Moore
Format : Closed-captioned, Color, Widescreen, NTSC
Binding : DVD
EAN : 0796019807500
Product Group : DVD
Region Code : 1
Release Date : 2007-11-06
Running Time : 123minutes
Studio : Weinstein Company
UPC : 796019807500

ASIN : B000UNYJXQ

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Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Following on the heels of his Palm d'Or winning Fahrenheit 9/11 and his Oscar winning film Bowling for Columbine acclaimed filmmaker Michael Moore's new documentary sets out to investigate the American healthcare system. Sticking to his tried-and-true one-man approach Moore sheds light on the complicated medical affairs of individuals and local communities. System Requirements:Run Time: 123 minutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: DOCUMENTARIES/POLITICS Rating: PG-13 UPC: 796019807500 Manufacturer No: 80750

Amazon.com

SiCKO is more like a controlled howl of protest than a documentary. Toning down the rhetoric of past efforts--no CEOs, congressmen, or celebrities were accosted in the making of this film--Michael Moore's latest provocation is just as heartfelt, if not more heartbreaking. As he clarifies from the outset, his subject isn't the 45 million Americans without insurance, but those whose coverage has failed to meet their needs. He starts by speaking with patients who've been denied life-saving procedures, like chemotherapy, for the most spurious of reasons. Then he travels to Canada, England, and France to see if socialized medicine is as inefficient as U.S. politicians like to claim--especially those who receive funding from pharmaceutical companies. Moore finds quality care available to all, regardless as to income. He concludes with a stunt that made headlines when he assembles a group of 9/11 rescue workers suffering from a variety of afflictions. When Moore is informed that detainees at Guantánamo Bay--technically American soil--qualify for universal coverage, he and his companions travel to Cuba to get in on that action. It's a typically grandstanding move on Moore's part. And it proves remarkably effective when these altruistic individuals, who've either been denied treatment or forced to pay outrageous costs for their medication, experience a dramatically different system. Nine years in the making, SiCKO makes a persuasive case that it's time for America to catch up with the rest of the world. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

Customer Reviews

Sicko delivers the truth (2008-09-04)

If an impoverished nation like Cuba can have free, universal health care, why can't the United States?? How many people have to die? Our average life expectancy is lower than many other countries. Does the governement just not care, or are our lawmakers too deep in the pockets of health care lobbyists? Look around you. Someone you know can't afford to get sick. It's time to do something about it, and it starts from the top up. Election 2008!

An important expose on our sorry state of (accessible) medical care (2008-09-01)

As one of the newly uninsured in the US (I have VA medical coverage which is NOT considered 'credible coverage'by insurance companies!) I cannot locate a policy which I can afford and which affords me coverage for so called pre-existing conditions. I was furious when I realized the inmates in Guantanamo, US prisons and our Congress have better insurance than the average American citizen! The most powerful and industrialized country in the world and we do not take care of our own. Moore hit the nail on the head with this one!

Do all French live like this? (2008-08-31)

Please don't get me wrong. I agree with Moore's points 100% regarding the state of health insurance and the power pharma companies exploitat in the United States. As a matter of fact I agree with pretty much all of his points he makes in whatever TV show or documentary he's entertaining us with. Unfortunately he often bends the truth a bit too much to make for a believable case and Sicko is no different. Moore is once again far fetching with some of his evidence. I grew up in Western Europe. And if you think that the French middle class couple portrayed in the documentary is your typical French family you might want to dig a bit deeper. I suggest you look into why cars were burning in a dozen French cities two years ago and you will find out about the turmoils France is really going through in terms of "social well being for all". It isn't by far the pretty picture Moore is painting here.As for the health care system in Great Britain: It has been for decades the laughing stock of other Western European nations. Why? Because it is an absolute disaster and has been for as long as I can remember. The British governement has been struggling for many years in revamping its system. It certainly isn't plagued by the idiosynchracies and corporate power plays the US health care is going through. But once again, you're better off not believeing that you're going to get better health care by moving to London.I'm giving Moore 2 stars for raising an issue that needs more attention however as someone who condones objective documentarians instead of propaganda I am reluctant to give Sicko more. Sorry, Mike.

Many of us have lived through this, we know the truth (2008-08-30)

So I had a bit of a medical insurance fiasco a few years back, in that I was self-employed and in a state that had few patient protections. So when I tried to get independent insurance, and I had the money to pay, I was shut out of the system. One large company decided I was a "medical risk" and I couldn't get insurance from any company no matter what I tried. An insurance broker actually used the term blacklisted to describe my situation! I eventually was able to get emergency hospital only coverage that I nicknamed "hit by a truck" insurance. My situation changed when I broke down and got a corporate job that had a group plan, suddenly the same company that had shut me out, granted me insurance! I only explain my situation because I know from FIRST HAND EXPERIENCE how horribly our medical system can be. I didn't read propaganda on a website or a book, I lived being shafted by a corporate giant. All that being said, this film is extremely well made. Michael Moore somehow makes our medical system and all of its faults to be funny! As hard as they seems to be. The stories and examples he uses are real and extremely dramatic and heart wrenching. A baby dying too soon because they wouldn't take her coverage, a woman losing her husband pre-maturely due to refused care, a family going bankrupt due to high medical costs, another woman getting bumped off of her insurance with no seemingly reasonable explanation, a homeless woman dumped on the streets. These stories might be hard to believe if I hadn't gone through it myself, but trust me, the insurance companies play by their own rules changing them at will to make sure they keep their profits UP!My only real criticism is when Mr. Moore goes to the UK, France, and Cuba to show the stark contrast in care than that with the US. The problems of both of their health care benefits are glossed over or not mentioned. I think Mr. Moore did this for comic and dramatic effect but I can see how some have attacked him for doing so. I would have liked examples from around the world highlighting the positive and negative. I would have also liked to see more US doctors interviewed as I know many that are extremely frustrated by our pro-insurance, anti-hospital, anti-doctor policies. Many doctors feel forced by the insurance companies on what treatments to give, what drugs, and they spend too much time, energy and money trying to get paid. But I guess if Mr. Moore had included all of that the movie may have been 5 hours long!!!!! No system is ever going to be perfect, but ours is surely broken. If you want to see another great documentary about how the rest of the world treats its sick and healthy Frontline on PBS came out with an excellent piece called "Sick around the World" all of the countries they profile are capitalistic and they all use slightly different strategies. It would be a great companion to "Sicko".

Eye Opener (2008-08-28)

Wow, this matches so much with th real life experiences I have had in America. I'm a naturalized American, come from India, and I know Medical Systems in both the countries pretty well. In India, the poorer people can afford the hospitals and the medicines, why? because they are paid for by the government. I agree, the hospitals are overcrowded and there are flies around, but they are never denied the health-care. It takes about 50 cents for the routine doctor checkup visit and about 10 cents for the general prescription medications (subsidized by Govt.) And we are talking about the 'Developing Country like India'. I had a couple of surgeries about ten years ago in India and never had to spend fortune and never denied care. The preventive care was also excellent without putting me on 10 different medicines.I love USA, I am a proud american now, there're definitely 99% good things in USA but 1% is that the screwed up health care. I will go back to India when I am retired as I don't trust the MediCare & Medicaid, (My wife works in the Medical/Health Field). The healthcare system in India so much better than in here.I had a surgery on my knee few years ago and Insurance was denied even after the pre-approval/pre-authorization stuff. After countless hours they finally caughed up some payments.Routinely the Insurance Co. keep denying the Lab-Tests, specialist visits etc etc for the absolutely nonsence and stupid reason.My wife was denied care after 4 nights in the hospital just because her Insurance won't cover it and we were told to go home with the baby before 11 AM. They won't do that in India. My mother in law is also a full time health care worker in India and she was stunned by this.Well, atleast I have an option of going back after my retirement and don't have to be bankrupt like that old couple Michael showed in the movie. "What about you my friends?"

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