"SiCKO" the documentary

[Dee]

Filmmaker Moore says probe of Cuba trip politically motivated

Filmmaker Michael Moore has accused the White House of having political reasons for investigating his trip to Cuba to get health care for U.S. workers.

In a letter to U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson released on Friday on the Daily Kos website, he called on U.S. President George W. Bush's administration to end the investigation.

Moore took a group of ailing Sept. 11 rescue workers to Cuba to seek medical treatment while making his documentary Sicko.

"For five and a half years, the Bush administration has ignored and neglected the heroes of the 9/11 community," Moore said in his letter to Paulson.

"These heroic first responders have been left to fend for themselves without coverage and without care. I understand why the Bush administration is coming after me — I have tried to help the very people they refuse to help, but until George W. Bush outlaws helping your fellow man, I have broken no laws and I have nothing to hide."

It is illegal for American citizens to travel to Cuba or do business with the Communist nation.

Moore has made a career out of attacking the the U.S. establishment in films such as Fahrenheit 9/11 and Bowling for Columbine. Sicko investigates the U.S. health system, under which millions of Americans are unable to afford medical care and are not covered by medical insurance.

In the letter, Moore wrote that Bush has close ties to the private health-care industry.

Health-care industry has helped Bush: Moore

The industry was a major contributor to Bush's 2004 re-election campaign and has been a supporter of Republican candidates over the last four years, he wrote.

"I can understand why that industry's main recipient of its contributions — President Bush — would want to harass, intimidate and potentially prevent this film from having its widest possible audience," Moore wrote.

Treasury officials did not respond to a request for comment on the letter.

However, Cuba's Communist party daily Granma called Moore a victim of censorship and the U.S. trade embargo on Cuba.

It compared the investigation to McCarthyism, the 1950s witchhunts for communists spearheaded by Senator Joe McCarthy.

The investigation "confirms the imperial philosophy of censorship" by American officials, the newspaper said.

Some U.S. commentators have said the investigation appears to be politically motivated.

A few U.S. blogs are saying the investigation, and the attendant free publicity for Sicko, is a gift to Moore.

Sicko premieres May 19 at the Cannes Film Festival and debuts in U.S. theatres June 19.

(source (http://www.cbc.ca/arts/film/story/2007/05/11/moore-sicko.html?ref=rss))

[DaveM]

One must assume Moore's trip was politically motivated....he's a political satirist, after all, so what other possible reason could he have?

I rather hope his documentary includes film of the rats and cockroaches crawling out of the woodwork at Walter Reed.

[Dee]

Canadians don't care for Sicko

Moore's health-care film gets rough reception

May 20, 2007

Michael Moore is handing out fake bandages to promote his new film Sicko, an exposé of the failings of the U.S. health care system.

But he may feel like applying a couple to himself after the mauling he received yesterday from several Canadian journalists – present company included – following the film's first viewing at the Cannes Film Festival.

"You Canadians! You used to be so funny!" an exasperated Moore said at a press conference in the Palais des Festivals.

"You gave us all our best comedians. When did you turn so dark?"

We Canucks were taking issue with the large liberties Sicko takes with the facts, with its lavish praise for Canada's government-funded medicare system compared with America's for-profit alternative.

While justifiably demonstrating the evils of an American system where dollars are the major determinant of the quality of medicare care a person receives, and where restoring a severed finger could cost an American $60,000 compared to nothing at all for a Canadian, Sicko makes it seem as if Canada's socialized medicine is flawless and that Canadians are satisfied with the status quo.

Moore makes the eyebrow-raising assertion that Canadians live on average three years longer than Americans because of their superior health care system.

I suggested to Moore that Sicko makes Canada's health system look so great, it wouldn't be surprising if Prime Minister Stephen Harper – of whom Moore is no fan – handed out DVD copies of it as campaign material in a future election.

Other Canadian journalists spoke of the long wait times Canadians face for health care, much longer than the few minutes Moore suggests in Sicko. Moore, who has come under considerable fire for factual inaccuracies in his films, parried back with more questionable claims.

"You're in a longer line than we're in because you get to live three years longer than we do. Why is that?" Moore said. "Why is it that a baby born in Toronto has a better chance of making it to its first birthday than a baby born in Detroit?"

Moore later back-pedalled on some of his praise, saying neither Harper nor regular Canadians should pat themselves on the back too much.

(more (http://www.thestar.com/artsentertainment/article/215801))