It seems that with the screening of “sicko”, mikkel’s lost some of his MEdia provided, criticism-deflecting teflon veneer:
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.
I can’t recall the last time that mikkel was described by his adoring press as “exasperated”, especially when the root cause of that exasperation happens to be---CANADIAN JOURNALISTS!!!
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.
mikkel, don’t worry about it; it’s just a little thing called “backlash”. It’s actually been a long time coming. Pretty cool, huh? And to think it’s raining down from your favored nation, The Great White North:
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?”
A Keanu Reeves moment, for sure. “Parred back with questionable claims.” I like that. I might have to agree with you, mikkel. Judging by this account, the current Canadian form of The Press seems superior to the U.S. version of it. By the way, mikkel, comparing the infant mortality rate of a public sewer like Detroit to the relative Shangri la of Toronto is like comparing the death rate of Muslims in Baghdad to the number of Muslim deaths in Dearborn. It would be as dumb as comparing the gun death rates in Detroit to those of Toronto. As a responsible documentarian, you wouldn’t do something as disingenuous as that in any of your films, would you? And it seems as if the Canada/moore honeymoon is waning:
Moore later back-pedalled on some of his praise, saying neither Harper nor regular Canadians should pat themselves on the back too much.
“It’s not hard to do better than the U.S.,” Moore cautioned. “The Canadian system, if you look on that list of the World Health Organization, is not that far above us. It’s not like the French system. The French system is the best in the world.”
I am shocked. Moore is speaking at Cannes and praises the french system as the best in the world. Who could have seen that one coming? It’s almost as if the Dixie Chicks were speaking out against the internationally reviled GWB while performing concerts on foreign soil. Can’t make the host country upset, that just wouldn’t make for good review copy.
Sicko, to be released in North America on June 29, is by turns enlightening and manipulative, humorous and maudlin. It makes many valid and urgent points about the crisis of U.S. health care, but they are blunted by Moore’s habit of playing fast and loose with the facts. Whether it’s a case of the end justifying the means will ultimately be for individual viewers to decide.
http://www.thestar.com/artsentertainment/article/215801
Ask not for whom the bell tolls, mikkel…
