Moore's commentary can grate, but his most brilliant prank - escorting a group of 911 workers to Cuba for free healthcare - manages to be political gelignite and intensely moving at the same time.
Sicko (2007)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:191
Fresh:177
Rotten:14
Average Rating:7.7/10
Consensus: Though some consider his political bent divisive, Michael Moore's humanism is pretty universal in this devastating, convincing, and very entertaining expose of America’s health care system. Moore's permissive to download Sicko paired with the film's activity-inspiring website made it a considerable accomplishment in grassroots activism.
Theatrical Release:26-10-2007
Synopsis: America's most incendiary filmmaker, Michael Moore, returned in 2007 with this health-care-industry exposé. SICKO tackles material as controversial as the topics explored in Moore's other films,... America's most incendiary filmmaker, Michael Moore, returned in 2007 with this health-care-industry exposé. SICKO tackles material as controversial as the topics explored in Moore's other films, yet does so in a way that places the focus on ordinary Americans affected by the nation's health-care crisis. After providing some historical background on how our nation's medical care system became so ravaged and unfair, Moore interviews a series of individuals and families who have had their lives all but destroyed by the denial of care in the service of profit. While there are two sides to the gun-control debate and even a legitimate discourse for how to best wage the war on terror, it's simply impossible to justify how a baby girl can wind up dead because her mother's health insurance wasn't accepted at a nearby hospital. Moore smartly allows this and other stories to be told with little or no interference, conjuring strong feelings of empathy, rage, and deep sadness. Of course, SICKO isn't a PBS documentary, it's a Michael Moore movie, and his fingerprints are all over it. Moore visits countries that have universal health care--spectacularly so when he takes several World Trade Center workers to Guantanamo Bay (and then to Cuba) to receive health care that they were denied in the United States--and presents a compelling argument for adopting a similar system in the States. Moore's ultimate purpose here is to compel Americans to care for one another, and it's a simple request that shockingly must be made via a major motion picture, making SICKO essential viewing. [More]
Starring: Michael Moore
Starring: Michael Moore
Director: Michael Moore
Director: Michael Moore
Producer: Kathleen Glynn, Michael Moore, Meghan O'Hara
Studio: Weinstein Company
Reviews for Sicko
Laughs are thin on the ground, but this is a must-see by a film-maker at the height of his powers.
‘Sicko’ is a quieter, more focused and less feral beast than its predecessor, ‘Fahrenheit 9/11’, but that’s not saying much.
Moore can’t resist over-egging the ironies, or revelling in the absurd. [There's] a strong whiff of sanctimony about Moore’s mighty indignation. It draws the sting from his satire.
An engaging, extremely well shot and edited film that draws on humour and irony to stir simple outrage.
Horrifying, heart-breaking, often hilarious - Moore’s latest shock doc is a potent polemic.
Moore is rightly celebrated for his elaborately staged stunts and this film’s highlight, involving a boat-trip to Cuba, is as hilarious as it is disturbing.
While we all have our grumbles about the NHS, it’s hard not to be caught up in Moore’s righteous indignation on behalf of his countrymen, or not to feel a twitch of pride in our own.
Michael Moore's best film to date. Entertaining, moving, funny, hard-hitting, right-on. It won't silence his critics, but it will give them something to think about.
A bitter but bracing pill. Moore constructs a fiery but unfanatical argument that boils down to a simple truth: Americans need to stop helping themselves and start helping each other.
Moore has again made a film which, though basically sound in logic, sugars the pill in a way which seems suspect in its determination to suggest that, as far as healthcare is concerned, America is bad and everywhere else is good.
A devastating exposure of America's iniquitous healthcare system, coolly marshalled and amusingly detailed by Moore.
If Moore were a more radical polemicist, he might have focused squarely on this alarming social injustice, but, perhaps rightly, he sees a broader one. Even the insured are handing themselves over to a bewildering lottery.
Entertaining, informative and frequently incendiary documentary, told in Moore's inimitable style, mixing humour, personal stories, on-camera publicity stunts and good old fashioned journalistic research to devastating effect.
A thought-provoking and often blackly-amusing movie that trumps even Fahrenheit 9/11 in terms of sheer entertainment.
There are several laugh-out-loud moments and Moore is one of the few directors who makes politics entertaining.
[Moore] turns potentially dry material into a film that's funny, poignant, and a call to arms.
Sicko is not Moore's best made documentary but he deserves praise for forcing an issue to the forefront of national debate.
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