The first press screening of Michael Moore’s new documentary Sicko has taken place at the Cannes Film Festival. So before I go to bed, I thought I’d take a look at the early response, considering this is by far the biggest buzz film of this year’s festival. And the preliminary response is extremely positive. How positive? Fox News is even praising it. You read that correctly. The conservative television news network calls the documentary “brilliant and uplifting”. Let’s take a look at the coverage around the web thus far:
Fox News: ” Filmmaker Michael Moore’s brilliant and uplifting new documentary, “Sicko,” deals with the failings of the U.S. health care system, both real and perceived. But this time around, the controversial documentarian seems to be letting the subject matter do the talking, and in the process shows a new maturity.”
Hollywood Elsewhere: “I have to say that I went into this documentary with limited expectations, but I came out teary-eyed.”"It’s not just an eye-opener, in short, but a movie that opens your emotional pores.”
Jared Moshe: “As someone who loved BOWLING FOR COLUMBINE, but found FAHRENHEIT 911 to be self-indulgent and unsurprising, I went to the movie with few expectations. Surprise, surprise I loved the movie.”
Matt Dentler @ indieWIRE: “It seemed to play rather well to the capacity-crowd of journalists and industry.”
AP: “It could have been a college reunion: hugs, tears, laughter, photos, and a big friendly guy in shorts and sneakers organizing it all. But the guy in shorts was Michael Moore.”
Interesting tidbits we have gathered:
- Moore is hardly in the movie’s first half
- Hilary Clinton is called out for “unsuccessfully fighting the healthcare biz while her husband was president, and then later taking major contributions from them once she was a New York Senator.”
- Shocking CCTV footage of Hospitals dumping poor patients onto the curbs of homeless shelters
- A look back at the Nixon tapes showing the birth of the modern American health system
- A lesson on how the French do Laundry
I’m sure we’ll be hearing much more in the next couple days. Keep it tuned to /Film for the latest updates.
May 19th, 2007 at 12:05 pm
http://www.slate.com/id/2102723/
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1247246/posts
http://news.monstersandcritics.com/usa/news/article_1302884.php/US_probes_Michael_Moore_for_Cuba_health_trip?compage=10&comcount=45&comlimit=10
http://www.cinematical.com/2006/06/01/michael-moore-is-sued/
Michael Moore is a criminal as well as a soulless exploiter of people he claims to represent. You have to be very stupid and uneducated to believe what this man says. Please be free thinkers and make your mind up for yourself, but just because a movie says it does not make it true. Moore is about to be indicted on several charges for his crimes. Please download this movie if you must see what this scum is doing. Please do not contribute money to the pain he causes to victims.
May 19th, 2007 at 12:46 pm
Nice job calling the Santa Claus of film a criminal. I’ll believe it when I see it.
May 19th, 2007 at 12:55 pm
@ “Dr.” Splinter
Oh yeah, because those documents really point out how much “deep shit” Moore is in. Only thing I can see from those documents is that someone is mad their image in a movie that Moore produced.
Look, we have much bigger problems than bickering about a movie. Wow, that sound silly when you say it out loud, doesn’t it? Anyway, we have bigger issues such as health care, the state of our economy, the job situation (although some parts of the country are better than others in that), and the “war” (it’s not a war, it’s a occupation, and you can’t win an occupation).
You wasting your time following around everything a Celebrity reminds me of stuff we see in Elementary School. Grow up, if you want to make a real change, get involved with politics (like try running for local government and work your way up). Otherwise stop wasting my time and everyone else’s
May 19th, 2007 at 3:20 pm
What in the WORLD are you people talking about??
Kids at schools shooting each other with machine guns… Moore asks, “Are we a country of gun nuts, or are we just nuts?” …….. Moore gets vilified.
A presidential election (if not two elections), are summarily stolen and the Dems are so gutless, that they let the democratic process die in the most important free country in the world. Moore asks, “Why didn’t Bush do anything for 7 1/2 minutes after being informed the the U.S. was under attack.
……….Moore gets vilified.
The U.S. — despite it’s many ambitions and self-delusions — has the worst healthcare system in the industrial world where 47 million have no insurance at all and as many as 100 - 120 million have been without at some point recently, and Moore says, “Are we Sicko?”
……….Moore gets vilified again?
Do you people understand that Moore had to take these guys, firefighters from the FDNY to CUBA to get them healthcare?!!?
Don’t you think anything is wrong with that?!!?
May 19th, 2007 at 5:00 pm
I KNOW!!! This guy is calling Moore a criminal and soulless exploiter because he took AMERICAN FIREFIGHTERS to CUBA without permission. Well, CUBA was the only place these men could get help. Their own country would not help their ‘heroes’. Michael Moore did this to illustrate his point.
Like many Americans Moore DOES NOT support the war. that in no way should entail that h doesn’t support the troops. I hate this war. I think it’s the Vietnam of our time. My best friend is over there. On his third tour. Do you know what happens to the casualty numbers for those on multiple tours? They skyrocket. I support him and love him and yes, pray for him. That does not mean I want us to WIN so he can come home. There is no winning. I JUST WANT HIM TO COME HOME!
I didn’t think Farenheit 9/11 was as inspired or realistic as Bowling For Columbine. But I do believe Michael Moore, like Ann Coulter is one of the major political voices of our time. And both are physically sickening to look at and say things that are swayed to their own beliefs and values.
May 19th, 2007 at 5:02 pm
I find that certain people just love to hate M.Moore.I also find that MOST of those people are ignorant or right wing fanatics that think Bush is wonderful.It is beyond my comprehension how stupid and backward some people are.Maybe there products of incest or spent to long in there trailer.I say its both!…….
May 19th, 2007 at 8:08 pm
I just have to wonder if the person writing as Dr. Splinter completely misses the irony of writing what he has written on a site reviewing a film with the particular name of this one.
May 20th, 2007 at 3:13 am
tHANKS FOR THE GREAT INFO dR. sPLINTER. mOORE IS TRULY A GREAT THREAT. i wHAT A KLOWN…
May 20th, 2007 at 4:24 am
How much is this film costing you Dr. Splinter? That is the real question, isn’t it?
May 25th, 2007 at 1:16 pm
I’m thinking that people who haven’t got the courage
to speak out against things that they see are wrong,
and don’t have the talent to be able to do so, are
often happy to tear apart a person who has both,
as doing so boosts their own self esteem.
I haven’t yet seen Sicko, but I’m sure that the points
Michael Moore make must have been issues he felt
were extremely important for him to have taken the
risks of acting in a way that he knew from the start
would displease some very powerful forces in the US.
Kudos to him, and to his part in this documentary:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3609599239524875493&q=The+Drugging+Of+Our+Children&hl=en
July 14th, 2007 at 9:40 pm
It is pathetic to spend 12 billion a week for the war and people have to worry to be homeless if they might fall ill to a long range disease in the most powerful country in the world. Michael Moore hit it right on the head with “Sicko”. This is pure”GREED” not medicine for profit but “GREED” Our new president should make universal Healthcare a first priority.
July 26th, 2007 at 4:18 am
Don’t you see people. The point here is: ” The health System is broken”. I don’t really care about the movie. I care about the $342.29 I have to pay every 20 days for my pills. Is not fair, I’m a good person, I work hard all my life and now I have to live like this. Not FAIR!!!
September 14th, 2007 at 12:59 am
As a non US citizen, I was kinda surprised to see how your health care system work. This is so rude! Health can’t be privatised I think. Making money on people’s sickness is amazing.
And of course, the poorest have no access to the health care protection.
Actually, I have a question : What is medicare ? Is it free?
I also want to say that The french systm is not FREE. Taxes are high, and It has a huge deficit. But, still, it works amazingly well. And you’re not scared to have a health problem. Everything is entirely covered.