'Sicko' (3.5 out of four stars) probes ills of health care (The Flint Journal)

[marmar]

'Sicko' probes ills of health care
FLINT JOURNAL REVIEW FLINTTHE FLINT JOURNAL FIRST EDITIONFriday, June 29, 2007By Ed [e-mail] • 810.766.6258
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Review


"Sicko" ***1/2

Rating: PG-13 (language)

Credits: A Lionsgate/Weinstein Co. release written and directed by Michael Moore

Where: Showcase Cinemas West, Grand Blanc Trillium Cinemas (opens today)


Documenting Moore

U.S. box office figures for Michael Moore's feature films as a director:
Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004) $119.1 miilion

Bowling for Columbine (2002) $21.2 million

The Big One (1998) $713,665

Canadian Bacon (1995) $178,104

Roger & Me (1989) $6.7 million

Source: The Internet Movie Database (imdb.com)


You might want to take care of that nagging cough or that sore knee you've been putting up with.

After watching "Sicko," you may be scared to get sick at all.

Michael Moore wants you to be scared, if not necessarily for yourself. Even if your health care covers your maladies, what about the millions of Americans who aren't protected?

Moore's least partisan documentary yet - and arguably his most powerful film - makes an impassioned argument for the replacement of our inequitable, profit-based health care system with the government-run free and universal care of other countries. Even if the issue seems overly simplified - this is, after all, only a two-hour movie - even the staunchest of capitalists will want to take note.

The filmmaker from Davison makes his point through ample anecdotal evidence, not the least striking of which is the videotaped image of Flint resident Adam Gerics stitching his own injured leg because he couldn't afford to go to an emergency room.

That's just the opening salvo. We also see a Colorado couple going bankrupt (and "retiring" to live in their daughter's cramped home), a Kansas City man meeting a sad end after being denied a bone marrow transplant, and - most chilling - testimony from former health insurance company screeners who have turned remorseful for declining coverage for not enough good reasons.

(A word to the wise: Don't make even the slightest slip-up on your insurance application - lest a hit man from your insurer come after you like the guy in the film who says, "We're going to go after this like a murder case.") ......(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.mlive.com/entertainment/flintjournal/index.ssf?/base/features-0/118312501375620.xml&coll=5

[Imagevision]

1. Sicko - Only 440 movies get it, compared to 2700 screens for Live Free Die Hard

Here in South Florida out dozens & dozens of cinema theater chains Sicko is being shown at only one location... The healthcare peeps are doing a good job keeping it under wraps, but then this Florida the retirement capitol of the US.

[marmar]

2. I wouldn't be shocked at all to find that the health care industry has been chatting....

with the multiplex industry about 'SiCKO.' :think: