Sicko (Special Edition) | 
| Director: Michael Moore
Actor: Michael Moore
Studio: Weinstein Company
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Rating:  298 reviews
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Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Widescreen, Ntsc
Languages: English (Original Language), French (Original Language), Russian (Original Language), Spanish (Original Language), English (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled)
Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Region: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Running Time: 123 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 7.7 x 5.3 x 0.6
MPN: 80750
UPC: 796019807500
EAN: 0796019807500
ASIN: B000UNYJXQ
Theatrical Release Date: June 22, 2007
Release Date: November 6, 2007
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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 Guantanamo 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
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
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| Customer Reviews: Read 293 more reviews...
 Moore Turns His Attention to Healthcare in "Sicko" July 5, 2007
thornhillatthemovies.com (Venice, CA United States)
157 out of 209 found this review helpful
*
Michael Moore sucks. And "Sicko", his latest liberal attack on the government is more of the same. Don't waste your money.
Hmmm. Hum. Hmmm. Hmmmm
Okay, are all of the Michael Moore bashers out of the room? Good. Now we can actually discuss the film "Sicko".
****
If you have seen any of Moore's previous films, "Sicko" will look familiar. Moore combines a number of moving stories of real people with a number of segments where he serves as a `roving reporter' and tries to get to the bottom of certain issues. Expectations for this new film are high, based on the enormous success of his last film "Fahrenheit 9/11". Because of the subject matter, and the enormous amount of press, both good and bad, "9/11" became the most successful documentary ever. When I went to see the film, I bought my tickets in advance and still had to wait in line due to the sheer volume of people trying to get in to see the film. "Sicko" is similar in tone and feel to his previous film, but it isn't quite the same hot button issue and will not receive the same amount of press, publicity, or dollars.
Many people attack Michael Moore's films because they are "documentaries". "Well, they don't tell the truth". "He's a liar". A documentary, any documentary, has to have a point of view. We have to know why the filmmaker is telling their story. Why is this idea important to them? If they don't have or exhibit a point of view, the film would be a pointless waste of your time and money. It wouldn't be compelling. You may disagree with some or all of the filmmaker's point of view, but at least they have one.
Moore has taken on some hot-button topics in his films. I think he does this for two reasons; because he wants to help make people aware of these problems and encourage them to act and also because he knows he will create more publicity by attacking them. As the old saying goes, there is no such thing as bad publicity. So, Moore has taken on gun control, big corporations and the George W. Bush presidency, all in an attempt to give us more information and to try to prompt us to take action. Because of his previous films, Moore is not exactly a sight any one running a company wants to see coming at them. In fact, I think I might have an accident if I saw Moore headed towards me holding a microphone. What did I do wrong?
In "Sicko", Moore turns his camera on the health care industry. Or, as he has said in a number of interviews, the lack of such. He talks to a number of people about their problems. One woman shows pictures of her car after an accident. Then, we see the bill and learn the insurance company denied her claim for an ambulance because it wasn't pre-approved. As she comments "When was I supposed to have it pre-approved? After I regained consciousness but before they put me on the ambulance." There are a number of stories like this and they are heartbreaking.
Why are these stories so heartbreaking? Because each of these people did what they were supposed to do. They did what we have done. They got insurance. And we could just as easily be in their shoes.
As Moore delves deeper into the problem, he notes that insurance companies don't make money if they pay claims, so they hire people, doctors, and medical professionals, to deny whatever claims they can and to figure out new ways to deny other claims.
Moore spends some time discussing what a `pre-existing health condition' means to these companies. After he sets this up, he shows a list of all of the pre-existing conditions, which could get your coverage denied. Worse, because some of these conditions are relatively banal, if they find out later that you have one of them, after paying out a claim, they may deny the claim and sue you to get the money back. The list of `pre-existing' conditions is extensive and runs a long time, even at the accelerated speed we see in the film.
There is also a segment dealing with Hilary Clinton's stewardship of the Universal Health Care initiative she tried to get off the ground when her husband was President. Not surprisingly, the plan never materialized. Now, with Hilary the Democratic front-runner, and using this as a campaign talking point again, it might come as a surprise what Moore reveals in "Sicko". But then again, it probably shouldn't surprise you that much.
And Moore visits other Western countries already employing the concept of Universal Healthcare. In visits to Great Britain and France, he finds that people receive the health care they need but more importantly, they receive the preventative care they need. As he talks to people in these countries and they reveal the extent of this coverage and what it means to them, I defy you to not allow your mouth to drop open. As he talked to more and more people in Paris, both French citizens and American ex-patriots living there, and they revealed more and more of the benefits they currently receive, I was ready to pack my bags.
As Moore tells us one story after another of normal, ordinary, everyday people and their problems with the healthcare industry, he really tugs at the heartstrings. These are people just like you and me. Their problems could happen to any one of us as well.
Then, Moore turns his attention to a sampling of 9/11 Rescue Workers. The NYC Firemen and Policemen who rushed to the scene are presumably covered by their respective health care plans. But what about all of the other people who rushed down there to lend a hand? All of the people in the Armed Forces? The good Samaritans? All of the people who volunteered their efforts to help save people? These people didn't hesitate to help out. In the process, they also breathed the toxic fumes and are now experiencing many of the same ailments many of New York's finest are living with. But are they getting any medical help? As Moore illustrates with a sound bite from Governor Pataki, they will be covered provided they can prove they were there, they spent a certain amount of time there, they helped out with the rescue effort, they sign an affidavit, etc. How many volunteers who were involved with such a chaotic event can provide proof of their participation?
Moore also learns the detainees at Guantanamo Bay receive full health care, including preventative medicine and this doesn't add up for the filmmaker. The people who helped out during the rescue effort can't get the medical care they need but the people suspected of causing the harm can? Moore grabs his subjects and they travel to Miami. He rents a boat and they make their way to Guantanamo Bay. It is an amusing piece and the story continues from there to show how these same people are treated when they actually arrive in Cuba.
This last bit is also pretty typical Moore, and, I suspect, a point that drives many of his critics crazy. It is a staged bit, much like when he ambushed Charlton Heston for a scene in "Bowling for Columbine", and it is debatable whether it has a place in a documentary. But Moore is trying to make a point and while the set-up may be artificial, the outcome is what he wants to show. And it is an effective argument.
"Sicko" is a very good, funny, emotional look at a corrupt part of our community. It doesn't pack the emotional wallop of "Fahrenheit 9/11" or address as incendiary a hot-button topic, but it is a very good conversation starter nonetheless.
Now, hopefully people will go out and talk and come up with a solution to the problem.
Well worth seeing and my firsthand experience supports many of his points June 8, 2007
K. Corn (Indianapolis,, IN United States)
81 out of 106 found this review helpful
This film highlights a subject that many of us intuitively understand or have experienced through the years - our health care system is in crisis and it can be a struggle to get claims covered, even if you have decent insurance. For those without insurance, it is a horror story.
I related to this movie because I know that simply keeping track of the paperwork and communicating between the doctors and the insurance company takes a great deal of my time. It didn't used to. Something, indeed, has changed for the worst.
For one thing, companies often delay payments until a patient's credit rating is in peril or impacted. I have seen friends have to bug insurance companies, in spite of the fact that they are paying premiums to these companies, to pay on time even when paperwork is properly submitted. This should not be. The company should be doing its job, insuring those who need their services, paying for appropriate medical care. People should not have to have their credit rating jeopardized or have to make a choice between paying the high costs themselves, somehow, even if they are financially stressed to the max...and then hope the insurance company will reimburse them..someday.
Listen to Linda Peeno's admission that she denied a patient proper care in spite of the fact that she knew this could cause death and that she continued to deny care in order to help a company maximize its profits - and she did so again and again, with encouragement and support by the company. I hope this will give you pause.
As far as personal experience goes, I left a hospital emergency room after being told nothing was seriously wrong with me. A nurse had checked the box that indicated they'd looked at the injection site where they'd taken blood and left a "tap" in case they needed to get medication into me quickly. I was instructed not to removed the gauze over the site till I got home. Imagine my surprise to discover they'd left two needles in me, taps fully in place! I actually took them out myself. So why did they check the box indicating they'd done it and that I'd been fully cleared to leave. I did negotiate a reduction on my bill but this certainly did nothing to make me feel more confident about the care I got that day. It was a minor mistake but how many more people suffer greater ones?
Breakdown: America's Health Insurance Crisis
What You Don't Know Can Kill You: A Physician's Radical Guide to Conquering the Obstacles to Excellent Medical Care
Understanding Health Insurance: A Guide to Billing and Reimbursement
Sickening July 2, 2007
JP's Picks (Boise, ID)
65 out of 91 found this review helpful
It's a travesty. No, not Michael Moore's latest documentary, but the health care system. Armed with anecdotes about horror stories coming from the uninsured, the underinsured, and a wide range of denied claimants, Moore gives us a lot of reasons to come inoculated when seeing his latest movie.
'Sicko' is broad in scope. Filming participants in each of the aforementioned categories, he goes through the history of universal health care's failure to be enacted in the United States. From The Red Scare of the fifties until the sweeping campaign against Senator Clinton's proposal when she was first lady, we get some colorful and interesting presentation. In addition to the benefits of these illuminating vignettes, we see other angles. We hear confessions by representatives at different levels of the health insurance organizations and various health care providers. Then we go over seas and across the border to get cross sections of three countries and how its citizens reflect and cope with their universal health care systems.
***(SAMPLER ALERT: IF YOU WANT TO GET THE GIST OF THE MOVIE WITHOUT A FEW EXAMPLES, THEN PLEASE READ NO FURTHER)*** This film has a plethora of testimony and personal stories, so I just want to give you a few free samples.
DIAGNOSIS-
---An uninsured Oregon man had to choose between saving his index or ring finger after sawing both tips off.
---An older, middle-aged couple who "DID" have health insurance had to sell their home and live with their daughter.
---Some insurance applicants were denied because of the proportion of their height and weight.
---A man was denied a bone marrow transplant from a younger brother because it was called "Experimental".
AGENTS-
---Health care insurers in league with some health care providers. Politicians, particularly (especially Moore cites) the Republican Party. In a segment that is particularly revealing, President Nixon says, "I'm not much for these things," in a context to help insurance companies.
MOORE`s Rx
--- Get universal health care.
---If "laughter is the best medicine" as `Reader's Digest' says, then there are ample doses in `Sicko'. At one point, the `Star Wars' theme plays as the list of "uninsured" ailments and diseases goes up the screen like the familiar, intergalactic storyboard. Oh, don't worry, there's more...
`Sicko' made me enthralled and absorbed. I loved the contrasts and information, but I felt there were a few sins of omission. I don't contest what was "provided," but I thought it glossed over the frivolous lawsuits, even when there are plenty of legitimate ones. Also, he skips over the downside of universal health care. How can you not address this when Eleanor Clift on `McGlaughlin' conceded there where things wrong with Hilary Clinton's plan? (Of course that doesn't mean there shouldn't be a new proposal, but I thought it should have been addressed with his own counter-arguments.) I loved the humor when it was prescribed, but I thought Moore relied too much on sarcasm. Half the time it was funny; half the time it wasn't.
Politically, I should 'fess up. I have at times and on certain issues been conservative, liberal, moderate, malleable, and wavering. Often I am all over the "chart". Most of the time I confess I am both informed and clueless. Having said that, despite the few weaknesses, Moore's 'Sicko' is a thought-provoking documentary that may very well be the best of the year. No matter what your political stripes are, you should see this movie.
 IN THE SIXTIES EMERGED THE CONCEPT OF HOLISTIC MEDICINE, THE WHOLE PERSON, THEN NIXON COMMERCIALIZED AND DEHUMANIZED IT ALL AND May 12, 2007
C. Scanlon (among us humans)
51 out of 59 found this review helpful
The most telling part of this excellent and important documentary, essential viewing in this electoral season (especially where he shows how Hillary got bought off after fighting briefly and with compromises for the universal health care enjoyed by most civilized Western nations, including here France, Norway, Cuba and Canada), arises when we learn how we went from a nation of concerned health care providers addressing the whole person and community to privatized corporations concerned only for the bottom line and thus aggressively denying any care at all in order to earn more profits, placing money before Americans. It once took a whole village to raise a child and heal the sick and to care for our elderly in peace and compassion; now our health management, insurance and pharmaceutical corporations in order to increase their records profits deny health care to anyone who is ill. The most telling and undeniable part of this important and pro-life documentary lies in the Nixon tapes, in which Erlichman in 1971 sells the concept of privatized health management of Kaiser Permanente to a Nixon growling at any whiff of our government providing health services to all. Erlichman forcefully assures the frowning one that this is strictly for profit, and so Nixon the Usurper, our own Richard the Third, gleefully agrees (wondering where he gets his cut of the pie) and the next night on national television sells this snake oil as good for Americans. Now we have the worst health care system in the once civilized world, which mercilessly denies health care to those who are sick in order to rake in greater profits at the cost of their lives and suffering, ignoring and abusing not only the once honored whole person, but also encouraging and waiting for their death by negligence. Thanks a lot, Dick. And now from Dick into Bush.
One of the major marks of the ministry of Jesus was his healing. We now have a nation which refuses to heal, having the resources to do so. As Michael asks, what have we become? Michael, a Catholic, in this documentary frequently resorts to Catholic clergy and religious for this explicit subtext, including a parish priest in south Texas lamenting the loss of a parishioner to conscientious industry negligence; a beautiful Eucharistic celebration is presented. Michael also interviews a nun in Havana who strongly and consistently assures us who view that there is no religious persecution in Cuba. And one of the extra features, on this disk documenting the US health care industry's exclusive eagerness for profit by denying health care, asks Whom Would Jesus Deny (WWJD)?
Despite the statement by Michael Douglass character Gecko in the epitome of capitalist films Wall Street (20th Anniversary Edition), in this case greed is not good. Greed never is. It does not clarify. It is one of the Seven Deadly Sins. It kills us, and when it does not yet kill us, it brings us the most profound suffering possible, and it does not care. It is greed.
To see children addressing their own parents who have lost everything to health care expenses, despite having insurance, and who must needs sleep in their children's basement, to see those children disrespect their own parents as failures and as burdens, and giving them no more than a corner in the basement computer room (without moving out the computer, which comes first), to see those children demand to know how long this stay is going to last, of their own parents who gave them life and home and education and food and warmth, to see those children so corrupted by the brave new US mentality as to despise their own parents for their infirmity and poverty, to see their own children do not care, do not feel, this is to weep. Then to see that grandmother weeping in Havana because for once her health care and her emotional needs are being addressed, for free, is to weep once more. To see Canadians and British and French laughing as if an embarrassing joke, a concept which makes no sense, at our health care industry's demands and abuses and our government's eager complicity in this avaricious extortion of the American people, is to remember that, yes, we must care for one another, and the only pre-condition for going to the hospital is to be sick, and that the sign of a decent society is one which cares truly and wholly for its infirm, its elderly and its poor. This is a normal society, and we have come so far from it that we can no longer recall normal.
We make war for record profits for the war industry, including Blackwater and Halliburton. We deny health care for record profits for the illness industry. We see a 9/11 rescue worker weeping to discover in Cuba that the same inhaler she buys in America for $120 costs in Cuba $5, as she weeps to be heard for the first time and releases all of her pent up emotion not only from her rescue experiences at ground zero, but at the persistent denial of care needed because of the effects of the selfless rescue, because of losing her home and everything and moving her children into hopeless situations because of the high health costs above and beyond insurance.
Cuba sent medical teams to New Orleans to save lives before the brutal Bush military regime even woke up, as our poor and elderly and infirm drowned and died.
The Bush military regime turned the life-bringing medical teams away at the point of heavy artillery. Watch Spike Lee's When the Levees Broke - A Requiem In Four Acts (Documentary).
What's wrong with this picture? Just ask Michael.
Cuba exports doctors while we export war and deny health care to our own people. What is wrong with this picture? Go ask Michael. Ask your Congressional representative. What health care have we brought to Iraq?
We wish to laugh with the woman whose ambulance fee was denied because it was not pre-approved, as she asks how she could ask for approval while unconscious, but we realize this is too true and too common. It is very common. We weep with the mother whose baby daughter was let die of a fever because she was not in a hospital owned by Kaiser Permanente but a competitor, the closest one to the mother's home. The illness industry's only response was to throw that agonized mother out of their hospital for disturbing the peace. I guess that I would, too, as my baby daughter dies, denied care. We see injured and lost people dumped on skid row because their insurance money has run out, while still in pain and suffering, with IV's still attached.
Nixon. In the pursuit of impure profit turned our once great and committed health care industry into a bloody avaricious carnivorous monster as brutal as any prison doctor in an old chain gang movie demanding cash for relief from pain and suffering and lethal illnesses easily cured. Bobby would never have permitted this, and this is why they killed him now forty years ago. Bobby would have made America, not Cuba, the greatest exporter of doctors to the Third World. Bobby would have cared for all Americans, and eased all suffering without thought of cost, as do the civilized nations of the Western world. But, then, Bobby was a Catholic too, and heard the command of Jesus to heal the sick and to do unto others what we want them to do for ourselves, to love our neighbor as ourselves, to love our enemy.
See this movie again today. See this movie before you vote. See this movie and all of the excellent extras attached on this Special Edition disk.
Corporate capitalist illogic, recently condemned again by the good Pope Benedict, echoing the words of his predecessors, laughed at in disbelief by the citizens of our civilized Western nations, as applied to human rights and needs: limit supply to increase costs; deny care to cut costs and increase profits. Only in America.
Scared Sickless December 16, 2007
Edwin C. Pauzer (New York City)
44 out of 49 found this review helpful
No matter what people may think of Michael Moore, they will be hard-pressed to counter his film "Sicko" with one of a contrarian view. I suppose "Sickohype" or Sickohypo" or "Let'em all Die" just doesn't have the same resonance as "Fahrenhype" did to challenge his previous film.
Perhaps as landmark as Jacob Riis's "How the Other Half Lives," "Sicko" brings the devastating cost and state of health care in this country to light beginning with people who have lived the American dream and expected to live their retirement independently and in comfort. Early on, Moore shows a working couple forced to sell their home to meet medical obligations not covered, and now depend on the charity of their children. Moore carefully singles out several cases of the twenty-five thousand emails he received that reveal the appalling state of health care in a country that nurtures that dream. (None of the stories or emails are about couples in separate bathtubs looking out over a vineyard).
First are the insurance companies that are out to make a profit. (Nothing's wrong with that). However, the profit is at the expense of the medical coverage and preventative care they can deny. If they cannot deny it outright or claim such care is experimental, they will pour through a patient's medical history to see if any condition occurred that was not mentioned or remembered in the application process. This will give the company the means to deny all claims retroactively. Incidentally, doctors receive bonuses for the most claims they can deny!
The next spotlight is on the pharmaceutical companies which are so expensive that many people must continue working well beyond their retirement years, years they should be enjoying, years when there is the greatest need for medication. In particular, Moore singles out the very new and complicated prescription plan, which is more expensive for seniors than ever before, but benefits the pharmaceuticals. (Thank you, Mr. Bush).
Besides our illustrious president benefitting from the contributions of pharmaceuticals, Moore identifies a host of other republicans who have had their hands in drug company pockets--including the lady who was going to provide universal health care in the first place--Hillary Clinton whose plan the drug companies spent $100,000,000 to defeat. Fourteen staffers who worked on the Seniors' Prescription bill, moved on to lucrative lobby positions with the same companies, and Billy Tauzin was hired as CEO for Pharma at $2,000,000 a year. In any other milieu, that is called bribery, corruption, and conflict of interest. In Congress, it's called the cost of doing business.
But what gives Americans a strong sense of pride is our belief that our medical system and healthcare, while flawed, is the finest in the world. Moore is quick to write "denied" all over that fantasy. We see in Canada, Great Britain, and France, how people receive first rate health care, from first rate physicians without having to sell their homes, decide which finger they can afford to save, and have a higher life expectancy than Americans. (Doctors in Britain are actually paid more for getting people into better health habits and regimens).
Misnamed socialized medicine by its detractors, socialized insurance works in these countries efficiently without people crowding in waiting rooms, being taxed to death (as the health companies would have us believe), or dying because they cannot afford the medication, or because the insurance company denied their claim. Moore implies that paying higher taxes makes more sense than losing your homes or retirement to catastrophic illness in what is now the leading cause of bankruptcy in the country.
Moore's direction is flawless. His graphics and humor are engaging; dry and deprecating. This is a film that may make you well-up with tears that a society could take such good care of its companies and business, and dump its destitute on the street. Moore succeeds in making you feel empathy for those who are poorly treated or not at all. He is able to make you think: "Can that happen to me?" or "If it can work there, why can't it work here?"
The special edition also offers more in-depth discussion of health care that could not be put in the original film. This includes conversations with people on the street, HR 636 brought before the house, Norway which has the highest standard of health care in the world. (Yes, it is free). Sadly it also shows some of the people from the film whose family members died for lack of treatment, or because they were turned away.
The final irony of the film is one of the more poignant. The man who runs the most virulent anti-Michael Moore website announced that he would have to shut down because he couldn't afford the hospital care his wife so desperately needed.
Guess what Moore did.
God bless us everyone.
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