Michael Moore's new film; "Sicko" to premiere at C

[Gandalf]

"Sicko" Is Completed and We're Off to Cannes!

May 17, 2007

Friends,

It's a wrap! My new film, "Sicko," is all done and will have its world premiere this Saturday night at the Cannes Film Festival. As with "Bowling for Columbine" and "Fahrenheit 9/11," we are honored to have been chosen by this prestigious festival to screen our work there.

My intention was to keep "Sicko" under wraps and show it to virtually no one before its premiere in Cannes. That is what I have done and, as you may have noticed if you are a recipient of my infrequent Internet letters, I have been very silent about what I've been up to. In part, that's because I was working very hard to complete the film. But my silence was also because I knew that the health care industry -- an industry which makes up more than 15 percent of our GDP -- was not going to like much of what they were going to see in this movie and I thought it best not to upset them any sooner than need be.

Well, going quietly to Cannes, I guess, was not to be. For some strange reason, on May 2nd the Bush administration initiated an action against me over how I obtained some of the content they believe is in my film. As none of them have actually seen the film (or so I hope!), they decided, unlike with "Fahrenheit 9/11," not to wait until the film was out of the gate and too far down the road to begin their attack.

Bush's Treasury Secretary, Henry Paulson, launched an investigation of a trip I took to Cuba to film scenes for the movie. These scenes involve a group of 9/11 rescue workers who are suffering from illnesses obtained from working down at Ground Zero. They have received little or no help with their health care from the government. I do not want to give away what actually happens in the movie because I don't want to spoil it for you (although I'm sure you'll hear much about it after it unspools Saturday). Plus, our lawyers have advised me to say little at this point, as the film goes somewhere far scarier than "Cuba." Rest assured of one thing: no laws were broken. All I've done is violate the modern-day rule of journalism that says, "ask no questions of those in power or your luncheon privileges will be revoked."

This preemptive action taken by the Bush administration on the eve of the "Sicko" premiere in Cannes led our attorneys to fear for the safety of our film, noting that Secretary Paulson may try to claim that the content of the movie was obtained through a violation of the trade embargo that our country has against Cuba and the travel laws that prohibit average citizens of our free country from traveling to Cuba. (The law does not prohibit anyone from exercising their first amendment right of a free press and documentaries are protected works of journalism.)

I was floored when our lawyers told me this. "Are you saying they might actually confiscate our movie?" "Yes," was the answer. "These days, anything is possible. Even if there is just a 20 percent chance the government would seize our movie before Cannes, does anyone want to take that risk?"

Certainly not. So there we were last week, spiriting a duplicate master negative out of the country just so no one from the government would take it from us. (Seriously, I can't believe I just typed those words! Did I mention that I'm an American, and this is America and NO ONE should ever have to say they had to do such a thing?)

I mean, folks, I have just about had it. Investigating ME because I'm trying to help some 9/11 rescue workers our government has abandoned? Once again, up is down and black is white. There are only two people in need of an investigation and a trial, and the desire for this across America is so widespread you don't even need to see the one's smirk or hear the other's sneer to know who I am talking about.

But no, I'm the one who now has to hire lawyers and sneak my documentary out of the country just so people can see a friggin' movie. I mean, it's just a movie! What on earth could I have placed on celluloid that would require such a nonsensical action against me?

Ok. Scratch that.

Well, I'm on my way to Cannes right now, a copy of the movie in my bag. Don't feel too bad for me, I'll be in the south of France for a week! But then it's back to the U.S. for a number of premieres and benefits and then, finally, a chance for all of you to see this film that I have made. Circle June 29th on your calendar because that's when it opens in theaters everywhere across the country and Canada (for the rest of the world, it opens in the fall).

I can't wait for you to see it.

Yours,

Michael Moore

P.S. I will write more about what happens from Cannes. Stay tuned on my website, MichaelMoore.com.

Let's see how much controversy this one can cause.

[Keevan_Colton]

Well we've already had one thread about how cool an actor turned senator is for bitching about micheal moore so...probably plenty.

*awaits the right wing cunts en-masse*

[Pax Britannia]

You wont find many on SD.netski

[Keevan_Colton]

You wont find many on SD.netski

Just wait and see.

[Glocksman]

Well we've already had one thread about how cool an actor turned senator is for bitching about micheal moore so...probably plenty.

*awaits the right wing cunts en-masse*

Does that include yourself, since you have stated that getting upset over warrantless searches is 'stupid shit', and that's a pretty right wing viewpoint?
After all, if we shouldn't complain about warrantless searches, then why should Moore complain about being investigated?
As you said, "Perhaps I just harbour illusions of a competent aparatus of the state that you can have some measure of faith in... ", and we all know that the US government wouldn't do something out of spite.

[Glocksman]

And just to keep this on topic.
While I've posted numerous times on this board that I favor a national health care scheme for the USA, I have my doubts about how effective Moore's film will be in promoting it or in exposing the shortcomings of the current system.

Personally, I think looking at France's or Canada's system would have been more effective than using Cuba, but Moore's the filmmaker, not me.

[Cao Cao]

Personally, I think looking at France's or Canada's system would have been more effective than using Cuba, but Moore's the filmmaker, not me.

Maybe. But which one's going to piss off an American right-winger the most?

[Glocksman]

Personally, I think looking at France's or Canada's system would have been more effective than using Cuba, but Moore's the filmmaker, not me.

Maybe. But which one's going to piss off an American right-winger the most?

Sure, but is his goal pissing off 'right wingers' or is it getting people to see the need for a national health care scheme?
If it's merely pissing off right wingers, then Cuba is the better choice.
If its getting people to see the need, then arguably Canada, France, or any other western country would be better.

Then again, I haven't seen the film so for all I know, Moore's made a devastating critique of the US healthcare system utilizing Cuba as an example.

[Cao Cao]

Sure, but is his goal pissing off 'right wingers' or is it getting people to see the need for a national health care scheme?
If it's merely pissing off right wingers, then Cuba is the better choice.
If its getting people to see the need, then arguably Canada, France, or any other western country would be better.

Then again, I haven't seen the film so for all I know, Moore's made a devastating critique of the US healthcare system utilizing Cuba as an example.

I'd say a little of both. His movies thrive on controversy after all.
And like you say, he may be using an extreme example to suckerpunch what he's criticising. The U.S. government has done it's best to drive Cuba into the ground for decades. If he can show that they of all people have a better health system than America, he'll really drive his point home.

[Glocksman]

Perhaps, but from my admittedly skewed (and I think a majority of Americans see Castro as another tinpot dictator) viewpoint, using Cuba is a bad example.
But as you said, it depends upon how it's handled in the movie.


This is one Moore film I'll go see in the theater instead of waiting for the DVD to come out.

[DPDarkPrimus]

I don't like Michael Moore very much because he's full of himself and much of the information presented in his films are of dubious authenticity.

I'm not saying I disagree with the messages of his films persay, but I don't like the man himself.

[Meest]

Sounds like an episode plot from Entourage minus the hilarity.

[bilateralrope]

And just to keep this on topic.
While I've posted numerous times on this board that I favor a national health care scheme for the USA, I have my doubts about how effective Moore's film will be in promoting it or in exposing the shortcomings of the current system.

Personally, I think looking at France's or Canada's system would have been more effective than using Cuba, but Moore's the filmmaker, not me.

Who says its the only example of another countries national health care system ?

Maybe he will use a series of examples of various western countries systems, then use Cuba to show that its not just the rich countries that have managed to build health care systems better than the US has.

As for making sure this film gets out, all he needs to do is to place one copy online on one of the various torrent sites (which will happen even if he doesn't want it to) then generate enough controversy to get people curious enough to watch it.

[Plekhanov]

Personally, I think looking at France's or Canada's system would have been more effective than using Cuba, but Moore's the filmmaker, not me.

Maybe. But which one's going to piss off an American right-winger the most?

It’s pretty stupid though as a standard knee-jerk response of Americans I’ve discussed the issue of nationalised health care is ‘that’s communist’ and the health care system in Cuba is obviously part of a communist system they’d actually be right.

Such an argument/smear obviously wouldn’t work if concentrated on pretty much any other industrialised nation the significantly more efficient and equitable health care system of which could be compared to that of the US whilst making the point that having a socialised health care system doesn’t mean a country has to have a fully socialised economy.

It seems to me that by concentrating on Cuba Moore has done a great deal to sabotage the effectiveness of his own film.

[GuppyShark]

I just want to know how many other filmmakers he's going to steal from and 'forget' to credit/pay this time.

[Lord Zentei]

Update:

Healthy praise for Moore's 'Sicko'

POSTED: 12:07 p.m. EDT, May 19, 2007

• Moore's attack on U.S. health care well received at Cannes
• Film maker took 9/11 workers to Cuba for "Sicko"
• Moore describes film as a "call to action"

CANNES, France (AP) -- "Sicko," Michael Moore's ferocious and funny attack on the U.S. health care system, got a warm welcome at the Cannes Film festival Saturday. At home, it has started a firestorm.

The movie doesn't open until late June, but it has already been criticized by conservative politicians and sparked a U.S. government investigation that could land Moore a fine or jail time.

"I know the storm awaits me back in the United States," said Moore as he absorbed the enthusiastic response of critics and journalists after the film's first Cannes screening. Moore held a private showing Tuesday in New York for a group of ailing Sept. 11 rescue workers featured in the film.

Moore's previous films were praised and reviled in equal measure. Americans will likely be just as divided by "Sicko" -- especially scenes in which Moore takes the sick 9/11 rescuers to Cuba for treatment.

The trip led the U.S. Treasury Department to investigate Moore for possibly breaking the U.S. trade and travel embargo on Cuba.

Some have said the investigation is giving the film valuable free publicity. Not Moore.

"I'm the one who's personally being investigated, and I'm the one who's personally liable for potential fines or jail, so I don't take it as lightly," he said.

On the advice of lawyers, the filmmakers spirited a master copy of "Sicko" outside the United States in case the government tries to seize it. As for whether the inquiry could prevent the film opening in the U.S. as planned on June 29, Moore said: "We haven't even discussed that possibility."

Moore is a Cannes favorite. His last film, the war-on-terror documentary "Fahrenheit 9/11" won the festival's top prize, the Palme d'Or, in 2004. "Sicko" is screening out of competition -- Moore joked that he didn't want to appear like a "typical American" by greedily seeking another trophy.

Moore says he knows "Sicko" will have enemies, especially within the Bush administration and the health insurers he accuses of abandoning sick Americans.

Ironically, given its stormy reception, Moore says he wanted "Sicko" to be a quieter and more reflective movie than the rabble-rousing "Bowling For Columbine" or "Fahrenheit 9/11."

There are no scenes of confrontation to match Moore's pigeonholing of politicians in "Fahrenheit 9/11" to ask whether they would send their children to Iraq.

Instead, there are ordinary Americans telling heart-wrenching stories of being refused vital treatment. Moore also travels to Canada, Britain and France to take a look -- possibly rose-tinted -- at their systems of socialized medicine.

"I decided to make a different film this time," Moore said. "I wanted a different tone and I wanted to say things in a different way.

"I got tired of all the yelling and screaming and not getting anywhere."

The film's emotional climax is a brilliant -- and, some will say, brilliantly manipulative -- sequence in which Moore and the New York rescue workers visit a Cuban hospital.

"The Cuba stuff is incendiary," said Boston Globe critic Peter Brunette, who predicted a savage response from some quarters in the United States.

Moore says the criticism of the Cuba trip is misplaced. He said he intended to take the workers to Guantanamo Bay, the U.S. naval base on the island where terror suspects are held -- and, the film claims, receive top-notch medical care.

"The point was not to go to Cuba but to go to America, to go to American soil ... being in Cuba was just an accident in a sense," he said.

Moore said he hoped audiences would focus on the film's message, not the controversy. He said it is both "a call to action" and a plea for a better, friendlier society.

"The bigger issue in the film is, who are we as a people?" Moore said.

"Why would we allow nearly 50 million Americans to go without any kind of health coverage ... That's not America. That's not the America I want to see exist."

The film includes what Moore hopes is an example of generosity of spirit. When the director found out that the Moore-bashing Web site moorewatch.com would have to close because webmaster Jim Kenefick needed money to pay his sick wife's medical bills, he sent an anonymous check for US$12,000.

Moore said he planned to call Kenefick on Saturday before the film's evening premiere to identify himself as the benefactor. But Kenefick, tipped off by media reports, appeared unimpressed.

"He paid US$12,000 so that you, the press, would focus on what a 'nice guy' he is and in the same breath, make me look like a jerk," Kenefick wrote on the site -- which is still running.

[SirNitram]

In my daily dose of making sure I always understand the more bizarre of society, I read FOX News. Needless to say, this review was something of a shock.

Link

Filmmaker Michael Moore's brilliant and uplifting new documentary, "Sicko," deals with the failings of the U.S. healthcare 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.

Unlike many of his previous films ("Roger and Me," "Bowling for Columbine," "Fahrenheit 9-11"), "Sicko" works because in this one there are no confrontations. Moore smartly lets very articulate average Americans tell their personal horror stories at the hands of insurance companies. The film never talks down or baits the audience.

At a press conference on Saturday, Moore said, "This film is a call to action. It's also not a partisan film."

Indeed, in "Sicko," Moore criticizes both Democrats and Republicans for their inaction and in some cases their willingness to be bribed by pharmaceutical companies and insurance carriers.

In a key moment in the film, Moore took a group of patients by boat to the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba because of its outstanding medical care. When they couldn't get into the U.S. naval base, Moore proceeded onto Havana where the patients were treated well and cheaply.

This has caused a great deal of controversy, with the federal government launching an investigation into the trip, which officials say was in violation of the trade and commerce embargo against the Communist country.

Moore, explaining the flap over the trip to Cuba in a press conference, said, "This administration flaunts the law, flaunts the constitution."

Moore now claims the U.S. government says his Cuban footage may be illegal, and Moore said he made a second master copy of "Sicko" and had it shipped it to France immediately just in case of potential government issues.

Bafflement. FOX News praises Michael Moore. The world is now going to explode.

[Bounty]

Bafflement. FOX News praises Michael Moore. The world is now going to explode.

But once "F9/11" gets to audiences beyond screenings, it won't be dependent on celebrities for approbation. It turns out to be a really brilliant piece of work, and a film that members of all political parties should see without fail.

As much as some might try to marginalize this film as a screed against President George Bush, "F9/11" — as we saw last night — is a tribute to patriotism, to the American sense of duty — and at the same time a indictment of stupidity and avarice.