Washington Post movie critic Stephen Hunter panned the Michael Moore mockumentary "Sicko" in Friday's paper as "a fuzzy, toothless collection of anecdotes, a few stunts and a bromide-rich conclusion." Hunter wasn’t fond of Moore’s claim that health care in socialist countries is "free," but really unleashed on Moore as he traveled to Cuba and chronicled its supposedly excellent health care system:
Some of his stunts don't work out with nearly the comic explosiveness he seems to think they might. In one, for example, he takes his Sept. 11 rescue workers to the U.S. naval base at Cuba's Guantanamo Bay, where, by archival film, he's established that the medical care for the incarcerated alleged terrorists is quite high, much higher than it's been for his Sicko Four. (He ignores the point that if it wasn't, the media would raise holy hell.)
He approaches the heavily guarded installation by small boat at sea and, pitching and churning in the waters of the bay, demands "better medical care for these American heroes than they can get at home!" The Navy is not amused. Someone pushes a siren button, and before the PT boats can be launched and the poor blue collar schlumps sitting there looking seasick are forced to go into a repel-boarders drill, Moore wisely turns tail. It's just sort of stupid.
But it's meant to set up the capital-I irony that in Dr. Castro's paradise, the rescue workers, having traveled up the island to Havana, are immediately taken into the finest of medical facilities, given free drugs and intensive care, and their health is rapidly improved by the TLC and the attention. What was the name of that facility? Oh, yeah, Potemkin Village Clinic for Abused Heroes of Fascist America, or some such. That's my little joke; the point is, what assurance is there that this care wasn't staged entirely for Moore's friendly cameras by the not-dumb apparatchiks of Cuba's excellent intelligence and propaganda service?
Since this is the Washington Post, Hunter then immediately tries to appease liberals who are now fuming over their fake bacon: "That said, the movie is partially redeemed, I would say, by Moore's own wit and class: He is a funny guy; who knew he was a noble one, too?" He reveals how Moore donated $12,000 to a Michael Moore hater for his wife’s health care.
Throughout the review, Hunter agrees the American health care system is badly broken, but concluded: "Someone has got to fix it, or make it fairer, negotiate the unbelievably complex issues and balance sound economic sense with fair play. America, fix your boo-boo. As for Moore, it can only be said: Filmmaker, heal thyself!"
Washington Post readers know that the Post used to write two sets of movie reviews on Fridays, one in the Style section, and another in the tabloid-size Weekend section. They now condense the Style section reviews for Weekend. Guess what? All of the paragraphs quoted in this blog are sliced out of the condensed Weekend review -- except the line about Moore's wit and class.
—Tim Graham is Director of Media Analysis at the Media Research Center
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Comments Policy
Michael Moore should run for
June 29, 2007 - 06:57 ET by rimskyMichael Moore should run for Congress. He IS a free lance politician. Nothing he does, NOTHING... is unplanned. Nothing he says is off the cuff. Michael Moore is a walking, talking, quadruple X sized phony.
Tim,Did you see Sicko?If so,
June 29, 2007 - 07:09 ET by LeonTim,
Did you see Sicko?
If so, what specifically makes it a mockumentary? Just curious.
Probably Moore's track record
June 29, 2007 - 07:24 ET by Hero SquadProbably Moore's track record on making films that pick and choose the elements that suit his agenda and discard the ones that contradict it.
*****
"I'm sorry, you must have mistaken me for a clown that gives a damn!" - Sticky the Clown
This guy is a vile, disturb
June 29, 2007 - 07:45 ET by doubledown552This guy is a vile, disturbingly grotesque, dispicable excuse for a
man. Let's forget the fact that he's a piss-poor film maker. Like rimsky said, nothing he does is unplanned and his movies still have a difficult time of being well thought out. The guy is a disease on the world.
Morals....? Who needs those?
Your comments on Moore mirror
June 29, 2007 - 22:42 ET by M J BYour comments on Moore mirror the attitudes of this site; each to his/her own.
Check out the Canadian movie about Moore; Manufacturing Dissent. The title says it all.
He is no better or worse than Rush Limbaugh or Bill O'Reilly; they all do the same thing they all "spin" for the cash.
Once again, sir, it is the Mi
June 29, 2007 - 07:37 ET by Tim GrahamOnce again, sir, it is the Michael Moore genre -- he's never made anything BUT mockumentaries. It's quite clear from the trailer. It ain't "The English Patient."
Tim,That's what I thought.
June 29, 2007 - 13:24 ET by LeonTim,
That's what I thought. All the Michael Moore cry-babies that don't see his movies but love to whine about them are truly hilarious.
It's clear from the trailer? Yeah, that's a good way to analyze things. I always did that in college. Why read the whole study when I can just read the abstract?
Reminds me of the mothers that try to ban Catcher in the Rye from schools, but have never read it.
Again, it's great to see people making their comments based on assumptions. It's a great way to live. Very convenient.
If you don't see something, I think you should probably refrain from passing judgement until you do. I simply love when I hear people ranting about Moore, then you ask them if they've seen his movies and they say no. How can you have an opinion about something you've never seen? It's absurd.
I refuse to watch Hannity &
June 29, 2007 - 13:28 ET by balboaI refuse to watch Hannity & Colmes because of the commericals. That's how I roll.
We don't have to take a bite
June 29, 2007 - 13:29 ET by JerryWe don't have to take a bite of every cow pie we encounter in order to know it is a piece of sh*t. The aroma alone will tell you what it is.
When asked if he went to war with Iraq to derail the impeachment vote: “I don’t think any serious person would believe that any President would do such a thing." - President Clinton (Dec 1998).
For one thing, even Moore ack
June 29, 2007 - 08:04 ET by GalvanicFor one thing, even Moore acknowledges that this film, like his previous films, is not a documentary, regardless of the category the Oscar people place it in. that's because he knows that a true documentary probes an issue from its various prospectives, and doesn't reject facts merely because they conflict with the filmmaker's opinion. Moore says that he likes to highlight problems and move people to action. In other words, he's an activist using propaganda, and not a documentarian.
I was turning channels last night, and came across the Tavis Smiley Show, featuring his guest --- ta-da --- Michael Moore. The introduction told me that Smiley was going to do nothing more than fellate Moore for half an hour, so I prepared to turn the channel. But something interesting popped up: in a scene from Sicko, narrator Moore notes that the US ranks 37th in the world when it comes to health care (No telling what the critieria were). But as they scanned down the ranking list and stopped on the US/37, guess what country was listed as 38th? If you guessed Cuba --- the socialist health system the Moore prefers to our own --- you are right. So, if Castro's got it right, and we've got it wrong, how does Cuba finish below the US. I wouldn't expect Moore to have the answers.
"No telling what the cri
June 29, 2007 - 08:08 ET by rimsky"No telling what the criteria were" ..exactly, which probably means that Cuba is actually 137th on the list..
U.N.
June 29, 2007 - 08:12 ET by pbanks7I believe it was the same organization that puts Libya, China, and Cooba on its "Human Rights" committee.
Ignorance is bliss. It's easier to repeat a mindless slogan than to do some actual research.
health care
June 29, 2007 - 08:11 ET by pbanks7Thanks for the observation, that was priceless!
Ignorance is bliss. It's easier to repeat a mindless slogan than to do some actual research.
He is our generation's Leni R
June 29, 2007 - 08:34 ET by Hero SquadHe is our generation's Leni Riefenstahl.
*****
"I'm sorry, you must have mistaken me for a clown that gives a damn!" - Sticky the Clown
Maybe it's me, but does anyon
June 29, 2007 - 08:40 ET by Gat New YorkMaybe it's me, but does anyone find it ironic that this rich, fat, out-of-shape, disgusting slob is expecting everyone to acknowldge him as THE authority on healthcare?
Gat New York: Of course they
June 29, 2007 - 10:22 ET by Mica the MagnificentGat New York: Of course they want you to accept Mikey as THE authority on healthcare.
These same people want you to accept Al Gore, a politician, as an expert on the climate.
Cha cha cha cha cha CHA. Cha cha cha cha cha CHA. - - A glob of trans fat dancing its way to Mikey's aeorta
Exactly. Gore is another grea
June 29, 2007 - 11:06 ET by Gat New YorkExactly. Gore is another great living example of not living what he is preaching.
Who would have thought that t
June 29, 2007 - 08:46 ET by saw the lightWho would have thought that the Washington Post would have been more objective than the "me-too" St. Louis Post-Dispatch I am forced to read every day? They still can't get over the fact that George Bush lives in the White House. Here is from film critic Joe Williams' review of Moore's "film" (emphasis mine):
The villian...is corporate health care: insurers, hospital administrators, and their political allies. These anonymous suits are not as hissable as, say, a dubiously elected president who misleads his country into a war."
Williams also manages to bring Richard Nixon into the fray, stating that, "HMOs were the brainchild of a big Nixon contributor, and recent attempts to ensure universal health coverage, such as the stillborn Clinton plan, have been effectively smeared as 'socialism.'"
But the very next sentence, starting a new paragraph, states, "Yet Moore dares to show us socialism with a human face."
Williams ends the "review" with "Naysayers will undoubtedly aim their scalpels at this rosy picture. Yet despite some heavy-handedness, 'SiCKO' is an effective wake-up call for those who worry that becoming more compasionate means swallowing a bitter pill."
Yes, Mr. Williams, socialism is a bitter pill for most rational thinking Americans to swallow.
"Bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb (insert terrorist-supporting nation here)"
The health insurance company
June 29, 2007 - 09:46 ET by BruzillaThe health insurance company I work for, contrary to Moore's statements, is a member-owned, not-for-profit company, that has no shareholders to make money for. Our members send money in, we send it to the providers who are contracted with us. If the providers charge less, the members pay less. If the providers charge more, the members pay more. Pretty simple math.
We tried to do something to fix the costs issue by putting together a system to gather pricing information on providers. Most people have no idea how much a procedure costs because they're not paying the bill. One doctor could charge $200 to treat a broken arm, while another charges $600 for the same service. What we wanted to do was identify what a reasonable charge was for a service, and who was offering those services at rates above and below the average, and inform out members that if they want to save money you can go to the $200 doctor.
Great idea... until the doctors got wind of it. They threatened to pull their contracts with us if we dared to share any of this information with our members. The problem is that there's zero control over what a doctor can charge, and that's what needs to be stopped.
Warning: The Surgeon General
June 29, 2007 - 11:39 ET by nythatesusaWarning: The Surgeon General has determined that the consumption of trans-fatso programming (including brands Russert, Matthews, Moore) can be dangerous to your sanity.