How did you react to Michael Moore's film Sicko?

Question

It's makes me hate being American.

Answer 1

Nothing could make me hate to be an American but I don't value Moore's movie. It's not a documentary. It's infotainment.

Moore is a propagandist like Stalin and Mao before him. He takes little tidbits of "truth" and wraps them up in innuendo and speculation. He has said that he doesn't have any interest in solutions (that's not his problem). He just wants to mix things up.

Socialized health care is not a solution. It has failed in the UK and Canada. If you socialize health care in the US you would increase the power of the FDA, the AMA and the drug companies by giving them the same "super powers" of monopoly that has been given to the Post Office...look what a mess they are.

Our health care system is screwed up, but Moore doesn't care about that. He just wants to sell tickets.

I want to see people care about finding solutions and not just padding their pockets with propoganda to make other people into haters.

Answer 2

Nothing could make me hate being American, but it does prove the validity of my assertions that the business of saving people's life should not be a for profit business. Making money from denying claims and essentially causing the death or pain of human beings is disgusting. And it's about time the ignorant stop being frightened by words like "socialized medicine" because they think it's evil or anti-American. We are the only top tier industrialized country that doesn't have socialized medicine and we are also 37th in quality of care in the world. I'm sorry, but I live in a country where being 37th at anything is not supposed to be acceptable especially when lives are being lost because of it. People don't make a point about the fact that our educational system and public safety systems are socialized, but they get all huffy about healthcare. People die because of what we do to the poor and disenfranchised and even to the normal hard working guy (who happens to need an MRI to find out if he has a brain tumor). American's being denied care because somebody wants to line their pockets is NOT ACCEPTABLE.

Answer 3

I was fortuned enough to watch Michael Moore's documentary 'Sicko' at it's second screening at the 60th Cannes film festival. It just might be his most important film yet, because this is really the first time he makes the essential point about America: in the US the dominant ideology is 'me' whereas the other nations on the planet think in terms of 'we' (I noticed this too when I studied in the States). Bowling for Columbine demonstrates the fear in American society induced by the media (if it bleeds, it leads) and where it leads to. Fahrenheit 9/11 exposes the Republican party, especially the Bush crowd, as a club that solely benefits the financial interests of the wealthiest people in the country, causing millions to suffer. This time, Moore shows that, even in the health care system, the nation is run by one single thing: the bottom line; the logic of money. The US seem to have forgotten that money is just an intermediate. If it becomes a goal in itself, people die. Unnecessarily.

We humans see everything as a story, whether we are aware of it or not: people's lives, brands, world events, nations. There are basically two story lines: the hero's journey (the individual who matures and fulfills his full capability, and the Greek tragedy (the hero violates the rules of the group and is sacrificed). We are at the same time individuals and members of a group. For every human being it's always a struggle to find, in all circumstances, the right balance between being an individual and being a group member. Nations choose between these two stories as well. In every country on earth the group is the most important entity (more or less). Except in the US. There, it's the individual. So instead of "one for all, and all for one", America's motto is "each for himself, and God for us all".

In 'Sicko' Michel Moore demonstrates the atrocities this kind of thinking leads to. A man without health insurance (companies simply refuse people), whose middle- and ring finger are sown of, had to choose between paying 60.000 dollars for having his middle finger restored and 12.000 dollars for having his ring finger fixed. Being the "romantic" that he is, he chose his ring finger. A woman, formerly with a good job, bankrupted by her medical bills and forced to live in the study of her daughter, has to pay 240 dollars a month for her cancer medication but gets the same pills on Cuba for... 10 cents. 45 Million uninsured Americans live in fear that they might, some day, need medical care. The rest of the world doesn't know these fears, because for them, medical help is free: paid for by tax money. The United States have become ruthless to it's own people. It contradicts the image Americans have of themselves and their country, but it's the awful truth.

As a film, 'Sicko' is slightly below 'Bowling for Columbine' and somewhat above 'Fahrenheit 9/11' (Moore's qualities as a filmmaker are admirably consistent). As an eye opener, it's the most important thing Michael Moore has done yet. The true 'sicko' is America. Hopefully this film will let the healing begin.

Answer 4

I think it's his best film to date. I'm pretty sure he will get another Oscar. What an eye opener, I think everyone in America needs to see this movie. I cried throughout the movie, and it's a documentary! Very well done. No one in this country should be made to choose between health care and being able to get by, or live, for that matter! The politicians, drug companies and health insurance companies should hang their heads in deep shame. This is the best movie I've seen in a long time! Way to go, Michael! (He's from my home town, by the way!)