[100M] Sicko
57 - Sicko
September 18th, theaters
Good and bad for a Michael Moore movie tend to be always the same. In the end, I mostly enjoyed the movie, but it often annoyed me for the reasons I expected.
What I like about this movie is, first, how it uses editing and montage. The montage is forced, and often a provocation, and it's a good thing. I like how Michael Moore tries to be obnoxious (like the "let me in, those people only want the same treatment that the evil terrorists get" when he's going to Guantanamo). It's not teaching you anything but I like how he tries to make his point.
He also always manages to get you both laughing and crying, and that's a good thing. I like how it uses what you see in a movie for a documentary, to make it powerful and enjoyable.
On the other end, the bad point is that he distorts the facts to get to his points. You often wonders how far from the exact truth he is, or what is the other side of the question, but it was obvious for me in the France segment, during most of which I was ranting that it was not exactly like this. It's not that he's lying, it's really distorsion of the reality. And it's annoying me. Like that french couple that is supposed to be average and they have a 7000-8000€ monthly income ! SInce I KNEW there what the problem was with his speech, I was wondering for all the other cases what was the reality. I know it's supposed to help his speech, and I enjoy some of his tricks but I'd like to KNOW.
I'm a cold, heartless girl too, because the beginning of the movie, with the testimonies of people ruined because of health insurance annoyed me. I was all "cut out the sans aucun doute crap!!" (Sans aucun doute is a very bad tv show where the host tries to make you believe he's helping poor people, abused by the system, when it's really a freak show "oooh look at the poor people, how lucky are you not to be them").
On the content of the movie, it was mostly very scary, especially when I think about what could happen in France in the health care field. It was also very sad, and made me angry because all this is so unfair.
Most of the times, I was also wondering about the US system. There's something I don't understand about the US culture and I'd like to get it. I don't understand, for example, how he seems so surprised when some Canadian guy explains that in their system, you pay for the others because they'd pay for you too and "oh you must be one of those crazy socialists". It's what he uses in his conclusion, about the "I" and the "We" but I don't remember the exact words.
I also liked something one of the british guys said about how you can control people by scaring them but also by depressing them.
Obviously, I liked that this movie made me think a lot, even when I know the facts are skewed and it wants to make me cry. Mostly, I thought it was interesting and enjoyable.
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