What Do The Critics Say?

"In amusing, opinionated and sometimes moving style, Michael Moore points his accusing camera at health care in the United States." John Wirt ADVOCATE "This is essential viewing -- informative, corrosive, and even sometimes hilarious." Jonathan Rosenbaum CHICAGO READER "Moore's simple triumph in Sicko is to pump fresh air into the discussion." Michael Sragow BALTIMORE SUN "A better, more focused effort than Fahrenheit 9/11 or Bowling for Columbine." Michael Phillips CHICAGO TRIBUNE "A persuasive piece of propaganda because it is as entertaining and funny as it is heart-rending and disturbing." Jeffrey Westhoff NORTHWEST HERALD "Moore does a damn fine job of bringing "hidden" information to light in a fast-paced and surprisingly entertaining fashion." Scott Weinberg CINEMATICAL

"An affecting and entertaining dissection of the American health care industry, showing how it benefits the few at the expense of the many." Alissa Simon VARIETY "Hard-hitting, informative, wise and engaging muckracking documentary." Dennis Schwartz OZUS WORLD MOVIE REVIEWS "Sicko represents Moore's most mature work as a filmmaker." Bruce Newman SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS "A compelling, tear-jerking look at a vital piece of our infrastructure gone awry." Bill Muller ARIZONA REPUBLIC "In between the laughter and the tears, it's an intensely effective, gut-wrenching experience." Joshua Tyler CINEMABLEND "It's those personal stories, of ordinary lives destroyed one form letter at a time, that make "Sicko" so powerful." Rob Thomas CAPITAL TIMES

The Inside Story "SiCKO" had its origin almost a decade ago, when Michael Moore shot a segment for the premiere episode of his 1999 TV show "The Awful Truth" about Chris Donahue, a dying man battling his insurance company over a pancreas transplant. The story detailed how Donahue made seven years of payments to health care provider Humana, only to be denied coverage for the life-saving operation; that is, until Moore intervened by proposing a mock funeral and the company relented to avoid a total PR disaster. After the back-to-back success of his Academy Award-winning "Bowling For Columbine" and the top-grossing documentary "Fahrenheit 9/11", Moore returns to the American health care crisis, this time flaring it up for the big screen. "The film is about health care, and it isn’t," says Moore. "As with all my films, I take a subject and use it as a vehicle to address larger issues and bigger ideas. In this case, I’m trying to answer a larger question: why are we, the largest western industrialized country, without free universal health coverage for everyone? Why us? What is it about us?" As word spread of Moore’s latest film concept, the U.S. corporations whose massive profits come from health care began having aneurisms. Ken Johnson, senior vice president of the Pharmaceutical Researchers & Manufacturers of America trade group told a journalist that industry executives were "freaking out and pulling their hair out." Indeed, Big Pharma went on lockdown. "Michael Alerts" were sent out to company employees working for at least six major drug companies, warning them to watch out for Moore and his film crews. "We ran a story in our online newspaper saying Moore is embarking on a documentary, and if you see a scruffy guy in a baseball cap, you’ll know who it is," a Pfizer spokesman told the L.A. Times. Late last year, CNBC reporter Mike Huckman noted "the level of paranoia was extreme” when he covered a drug company’s analyst conference, questioning the reason for the high anxiety as "The Michael Moore Effect". In February 2006, Moore issued a call on his website michaelmoore.com asking readers and fans to send in their personal health care horror stories. His message read, in part, "If you'd like me to know what you've been through with your insurance company, or what it's been like to have no insurance at all, or how the hospitals and doctors wouldn't treat you (or if they did, how they sent you into poverty trying to pay their crazy bills), if you have been abused in any way by this sick, greedy, grubby system and it has caused you or your loved ones great sorrow and pain, let me know." Nothing could have prepared him for the response. A deluge of more than twenty five thousand e-mails in just the first week. Amongst the emails were heart-wrenching stories of how insured Americans were 'abused' by health insurers, medical and hospital providers. A close friend told cancer survivor Donna Smith about Moore’s website request, and since Smith had enjoyed "Fahrenheit 9/11" she thought she’d check it out. "I fired off a quick, curt e-mail, just around two or three paragraphs, and didn’t think anything would come of it or that anyone would care," says Smith, the wife of a cardiac patient who moved into their daughter’s home after insurance costs devastated them financially. "I was venting in that e-mail, it was just sheer frustration. But I was also hoping, against all odds, that somebody would hear from those of us who played by the rules and made it a priority to pay their premiums; and yet were still going under. To have someone like Michael listen and expose a problem that millions of Americans are facing every day gave us a dignity we haven’t had for years." "One thing I said to my coworkers when we started was that we don’t need to spend a lot of time in the film telling the audience how bad the system is, because they already know. That would be like making a movie now and pointing out that Bush is a lousy president," Moore said. Early on during production, Moore made an important decision. The film would focus on one particular area of health care rather than covering the unwieldy issue from every conceivable angle. Moore decided not to concentrate his efforts on the fourty five million Americans who lacked medical insurance, but instead on the majority who are covered and were denied benefits or became strangled with ridiculous bureaucratic red tape. The stories speak for themselves. But behind the stories lies the question of how insurance companies literally can get away with murder. Scores of industry insiders and whistleblowers contacted Moore, eager to share their stories on the record about how insurance companies make billions in profits by keeping needed benefits away from those patients who deserved them. "I was told I was not denying care, I was denying payment," went one familiar refrain. Working with so many 'bad news' stories had its effect on the crew. "It was very difficult. You had people saying, "I’m going to die if I don’t get help" or "My mother is dying". You feel helpless about what you can do, and it deeply affected everybody working on the film," says Moore. A healthy dose of humor would help lighten things up. A large sign stating "This Is A Comedy" was posted near the entrance to Moore’s offices to remind sleep-deprived staffers that laughter is the best medicine. Even a sad little houseplant that wilted in a corner office for weeks provided comic relief when someone hung a note on it that said "This Plant Needs Health Care". As an out-sider, it is hard to imagine the huge workload, undertaken to bring the finished product to the screen. Shooting first began across the United States, with crews sent out to shoot various patients’ stories region by region. A West Coast jaunt took the production to Los Angeles and San Francisco; a Texas whirlwind included shoots in Houston, Austin, Brownsville, McAllen and Dallas; another Southern trek filmed people across Florida and elsewhere. To demonstrate how US health care has become so acutely diseased compared to much of the civilized world, the crew visited several other countries including France, England and Canada. In the end, between one hundred and fifty and two hundred unique stories were documented over more than one hundred and thirty days of shooting. Compared that to a mere thirty eight days of filming on "Farenheit 9/11". More than five hundred hours of film were eventually shot. This is the most ever exposed by Moore for a single movie project. When Moore and his crew returned from shooting, the real surgery began: editing those hundreds of hours of interviews and other footage into a movie. Joining Moore again in the cutting room was "Farenheit 9/11" editor Chris Seward and new team members Dan Sweitlik and Geoffrey Richman. Ultimately, Moore believes"SiCKO" will not only expose a failing system and offer solid alternatives, but also show his growth as a filmmaker. Moore blames "the system itself. For the most part, the system is based on profits and greed. When it comes to people’s health, profit should be nowhere involved. If anyone suggested that, say, the school system should be making a profit, they’d be looked at as if they were from Mars." I have to agree with Moore's assessment of his new film when he states, "Bowling For Columbine" was not "Roger & Me", and this is not "Farenheit 9/11". When people go to the movies they expect something that will make them laugh or cry or think. They want something fresh and new, and I’m not interested in doing the same thing over again. I think some people will be surprised by the tone of this film." "I knew this would be a challenge," he concludes. "There’s not one character or one company to hate in "SiCKO", there’s no single antagonist like Roger Smith or Charlton Heston; it’s an entire system. Both the audience and I have to work a little harder with this film because it’s not so black and white. Let’s face it: me marching up the steps to the CEO’s headquarters for the umpteenth time isn’t very interesting. It’s not that I wouldn’t do that again, but with "SiCKO" I wanted to get through a whole film without having to bang on the door of power. I don’t want the audience going out into the lobby saying 'Gee, Mike really kicked some ass'. They have to kick the ass themselves." Moore's right when he says that nothing will change until the people themselves standup and say "Enough!" Synopsis

After providing some historical background on how the U.S.A's medical care system became so ravaged and unfair, Michael 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. "Sicko" is more than a documentary, it's a Michael Moore movie. Moore visits countries that have universal health care and 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, presenting a compelling argument for adopting a similar system in the States.

The Verdict "Once again Moore is on the hunt and this time he has the American health system in his sight. Moore's not as outrageous as he has been in the past but, like a terrier chasing a rat chasing a rat down a drain, he is just as tenatious in his pursuit of the facts. Meet the victims of what is truly the most shameful health service in the world and get a snapshot at how public health systems work in Canada, the United Kingdom, France and Cuba. Taken on face value "SiCKO" makes for an interesting watch. The audacious Moore even takes some 9/11 rescue workers to 'Camp X' Guantánamo Bay where prisoners get better medical care than those who have have health insurance in the U.S.A. Moore chose to concentrate, not on those who don't have health insurance in the U.S.A but rather, those who do have insurance and the way they are treated by the pharmaceutical industry, the hospital business and the insurance carriers, who producer Meghan O'Hara describes as America's own 'Axis Of Evil'. An entertaining experience that makes one realize that we may not be as hard done by in Australia as some would have us think! Well worth having a look at. 3 1/2 STARS." Crew Bytes Editor Dan Sweitlik received a BFA in film and photography from the University of Miami, before starting his career in television as a Director/Cameraman for a documentary-style TV show produced in Miami. In 1986 he received an Emmy nomination for cinematography for his work on the show. A move to the West Coast saw a change from production to postproduction, as Sweitlik joined Red Car Editing, assisting on Michael Jackson’s "Beat It" video and cutting one of Wieden & Kennedy’s first Nike commercials. In 1989, Sweitlik launched Swietlik, Inc. as an editor with one employee. Over time, the company grew to five editors and 16 employees, relocating from Hollywood to the current building in Santa Monica in 1997. Founder of Cut + Run/Los Angeles, Sweitlik’s dexterity with comedy and dialogue has earned him a Gold and Bronze Clio for national campaigns, 3 Silver Clios (including one for humor) and gained further recognition at the Beldings, Tellys and the San Francisco Show. Sweitlik was an editor on the Academy Award winning Al Gore documentary "An Inconvenient Truth" and received an ACE Eddie for Best Edited Documentary.
Editor Geoffrey Richman is the award-winning editor of "Murderball", the 2005 Academy Award nominee for Best Feature Documentary. "Murderball" won the first-ever Special Jury Prize for Editing at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival, along with the Audience Award for Best Documentary. In 2006, Geoffrey returned to Sundance with a film he edited, "God Grew Tired Of Us", which won the Grand Jury Prize and the Audience Award for Best Documentary. His most recent project was the third installment of the executive-produced Michael Apted film "21 Up America", the third installment in the American "Up" series.
Producer Meghan O'Hara previously worked with Moore as a Field Producer on "Bowling For Columbine" and "Farenheit 9/11". She previously wrote, directed and produced "Roe VS. Wade: Baptism By Fire" and served as producer and director of "Pulp Fiction On A Dime: A 10TH Anniversary Retrospect".
Editor Christopher Seward a graduate of the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University, previously edited "Farenheit 9/11", which received the Palme D’Or at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival. He has done short form and promotional editing work for HBO, Cinemax, ESPN/ESPN Classic, Nickelodeon, Discovery Channel, PBS, Comedy Central, Nature, Dove Soap, E! Entertainment, USA Networks, A&E, WNET 13, Speedvision, Metro Channel and the Tennis Hall of Fame. He has also edited spots for several political campaigns including: John Kerry (President), Jon Corzine (Governor and Senator), Hillary Clinton (Senator), Dick Gephardt (Senator) and Joe Lieberman (Senator). Who's Who?

Michael Moore George W Bush Reggie Cervantes John Graham William Maher Richard Nixon Linda Peeno

... ... ... ... ... ... ...

Himself Himself (archive footage) Herself Himself Himself Himself (archive footage) Herself

Run Time 118 minutes Rated PG [AUST] Copyright ©2007 - Roadshow Films - All Rights Reserved ©2007 All Rights Reserved - Protected by Australian & International Copyright. Trademark Laws Apply.