Sicko details

Sicko
Format: 12 DVD
Starring: Michael Moore
Director: Michael Moore
Genre: Documentary - Political
Studio: ELEVATION
Name Discs
Sicko
12 Feature

DVD Information

Run time: 2 hours
Rental release: 07 Jan 2008
Main languages: English
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Most helpful review Sicko

  • focuses on what he wants to think too much and how clever he thinks he is...

    Rated - 2.0 stars  
    By squirrelgirl (24 reviews) from Brighton , 21 Oct 2007

    THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS Show review anywayHide

    [Highly rated reviewer]

    moore may have an excellent point that in America you either need an excellent healthcare plan through your own payments or through work, or you end up going bankrupt if you get ill and want to get treatment. however he offers nothing new or well investigated and focuses upon comparing America to other countries who do it 'better', and in several ways he illustrates that he does not adhere to the principle of documentary filmmaking (that you follow the truth even if the truth ends up being something you didn’t envision).

    The next paragraph contains spoilers: for instance I live in Britain and I and almost everyone I know has the following experience – we are working class and know that if we get sick we either go private and pay or we can stick with the free NHS service, sit on a waiting list for anything from a few months to a couple of years and risk getting very sick before we even get a letter telling us we can see a specialist (or in some cases you don’t get put on a list because your GP decides you aren’t sick with anything serious until you end up in A and E). Moore’s movie however chooses to show a Britain where you get free operations (no focus on waiting lists), get to see a doctor in a few hours and everyone is helpful even though its free. Equally some French friends have advised me that the French healthcare scenes (which incidentally doesn’t even attempt to show a cross section of society) is equally biased, and the beginning of the Cuba scenario when they approach guantanamo bay (Moore taking heroes who helped find survivors at ground zero who now have conditions for healthcare at the prison) is downright disgusting of him. Speaking as an ex Moore fan I say with no exaggeration that he disrespects both the heroes in the boat with him, who he uses as pawns for his screwed up symbolism, and the prisoners of guantanamo bay since many are innocent and would I’m sure happily trade in free healthcare for their right to their freedom. If Moore cannot see that he is toying horribly with the real horrors of actual peoples lives just to juxtapose how the American healthcare system treats free Americans against how much better an American ‘prison’ treats the health of ‘criminals’ and ‘terrorists’ then he is either sociopathic or as stupid as the head of state he claims to revile and stand against.

    you can get interesting info about the American system but his willingness to misrepresent many serve only to instil doubt about his ‘facts’ in general. Shortly after deciding I could no longer agree with his methods I saw Manufacturing Dissent. I would recommend that film for anyone who is interested in seeing examples of how Moore may have entirely twisted the facts in some of his previous work and would like more info on why he is criticised.
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(228)
  • Unbalanced dissapointment

    Rated - 2.0 stars  
    By a customer , 06 Feb 2013
    Some scary, sad and interesting stories but ultimately as full of propaganda as the 'socialised healthcare' films that Michael Moore himself slates. The film of Hammersmith hospital could not be less realistic (where were the patients?) and could he ask 'how much does that cost?' any more times? It's a shame as the film could have been so much better if it it showed a more of a balanced view.
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  • Thought provoking as always

    Rated - 4.5 stars  
    By markmaz333 (102 reviews) , 14 Oct 2012
    Michael Moore tends to be the conscience of American society and all his documentaries have been well worth watching. Yes they are very one sided but on the whole honest.

    This really was an eye opener though about American healthcare or lack thereof.

    Remember, as he says in the opening few lines,this was not about the 50 million Americans who did not have healthcare insurance but about the 250,000,000 who THINK that they have insurance cover.

    As was stated near the end, the average life span of an American is (far) less than that of just about every other western country. If the system was so good,and they are paying through the nose for it, then this should not be the case. A sick society indeed. Nobody is ever surprised about the insurance industry in any form it comes in.
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  • Incredibly interesting!

    Rated - 5.0 stars  
    By TomGA (1 review) , 07 Aug 2012

    THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS Show review anywayHide

    An excellent film in which Michael Moore explores how America is the only developed country in the Western world not to offer citizens Universal Free Healthcare. He also journeys to Canada, the UK and other countries to explore how their systems work, in spite of propaganda in the US to the contrary.
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  • Not his best but worth a look

    Rated - 3.0 stars  
    By JonathanWelfordcom (34 reviews) from Manchester , 23 Jun 2012
    I enjoyed Michael Moores other documentaries and was interested to see this one, it's an interesting subject and it's not covered with much depth.

    Not his best but worth a look, it's a shame it wasn't edited and put together as sharply as the 911 documentary
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  • damn right sick

    Rated - 4.5 stars  
    By nurseboy (54 reviews) from oxford , 11 Mar 2012
    this film is a damning indictment to the 'best country in the world' micheal moore has again shown the dreadfull state of america yet in an afectionate kind of way, very much like louie theroux he observes and lets the documenary do the talking. why people are in love with america i do not know especially after having my veiws largly confirmed by this, bowling, and fareinhight. i am a nurse working in the NHS so prahaps it affected me more than others, healthcare is a fundamental aspect of any civalised nation, and the biggest suprise to me was even if you are privalidged enough to have health insurance you will still be screwed to get that last dollar from your cold dying hand. watch it but be prepared to get angry and frustrated
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