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Start a movie party in your neighborhood!
Here's a neat review from a Nederlander on IMDB.com who screened it at Cannes:
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.
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