Slog - Comments on This Weekend at the Movies http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/06/this_weekend_at_the_movies_19 Summer movies just hit you in the face. Here's what's up this weekend. Already open for several days: Live Free or Die Hard. Andrew Wright says it's pretty great. Opening today: Sicko, from the inimitable (and I don't mean that as a compliment, exactly) Michael Moore. Sicko is perfectly entertaining, but it's perhaps the least informative movies about single-payer healthcare I could imagine. I could've gotten more cogent arguments from a soft-money issue ad. Here's my full review. And don't overlook Ratatouille, which despite appearances... .... may end up being one of the best movies of the summer. Seriously. Here's... Copyright 2008 Fri, 29 Jun 2007 14:49:15 -0800 Sat, 30 Jun 2007 00:36:45 -0800 http://www.movabletype.org/?v=3.34 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Comment by DOUG. "...but it’s perhaps the least informative movies about single-payer healthcare I could imagine..."

Hyperbole alert.

]]> DOUG. http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/06/this_weekend_at_the_movies_19#c755217 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/06/this_weekend_at_the_movies_19#c755217 Arts Fri, 29 Jun 2007 16:35:12 -0800 Comment by Grant Cogswell 'Walking to Werner' is UNMISSABLE - and I know that younger teens are crazy about it - something about this incredible journey is great for folks engaged in self-making, of any age, but particularly the young'uns. If my younger brother was still a teen and not the fabulous twentysomething next-big-thing of the glam-country scene that he is, I would take the train up to Seattle just to get him to see this movie. A doc that is about the real world of the struggle for meaning - and hilarious, and dare I say it? Heartwarming. If you don't love it I'll give you ten bucks.

]]> Grant Cogswell http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/06/this_weekend_at_the_movies_19#c755219 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/06/this_weekend_at_the_movies_19#c755219 Arts Fri, 29 Jun 2007 16:36:16 -0800 Comment by Jay The movie isn't even about single-payer health care, it's about the failings of the US health care "system." Moore might endorse the single-payer system, but that's not the movie's main argument. The argument is that health care in this country is broken and that medical coverage (preferably provided by the state) should be universal.

]]> Jay http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/06/this_weekend_at_the_movies_19#c755225 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/06/this_weekend_at_the_movies_19#c755225 Arts Fri, 29 Jun 2007 16:43:57 -0800 Comment by annie @3: No, that's my point. You haven't seen it yet, have you? Half of the movie and more than half of Moore's emphasis concerns the perfection of single-payer health care in other countries. And I do not use "perfection" lightly.

]]> annie http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/06/this_weekend_at_the_movies_19#c755264 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/06/this_weekend_at_the_movies_19#c755264 Arts Fri, 29 Jun 2007 17:22:40 -0800 Comment by Jay Yes, Moore endorses universal health care in the movie, yes he shows foreign countries with universal health care systems, yes he's completely uncritical of single-payer, and yes I have seen it. All that said, I still think it's about how our system is broken, which it is, far more broken than the single-payer systems he highlights. It's a moral and ethical argument, one that doesn't require overt economic analysis.

He simply says "this is the ideal ethical health care model to me, these are the counties that are closer to the mark." His argument isn't complex because he's not making much of one, he's not saying "this is how it would work in the US" and I don't think he's obligated to work out those details.

I agree with you if you think he's uncritical and polemical. But I don't see a real argument aside from "health care sucks here, it's better here." On some level I think you and I agree with the the problems with Moore's film making, I just think the argument he's making is basic and polemical- ultimately any argument for universal health care falls back on the simple moral premise that the government has an obligation to protect its citizens. How it would work is deadly important, but Moore's not talking about that- he's saying the U.S. has let down its citizens. As a propaganda piece it's effective and it has the potential to move the debate (at least on the center left) from this bullshit about requiring everyone pay for private insurance to true universal health care. And that could only be a good thing.

]]> Jay http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/06/this_weekend_at_the_movies_19#c755316 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/06/this_weekend_at_the_movies_19#c755316 Arts Fri, 29 Jun 2007 19:08:01 -0800 Comment by Jay Annie: I don't know if you read Denby's review yet, but you'd probably like it.

http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/cinema/2007/07/02/070702crci_cinema_denby

]]> Jay http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/06/this_weekend_at_the_movies_19#c755327 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/06/this_weekend_at_the_movies_19#c755327 Arts Fri, 29 Jun 2007 19:33:57 -0800 Comment by keshmeshi Does Moore ever address the fact that the French system isn't single payer?

]]> keshmeshi http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/06/this_weekend_at_the_movies_19#c755360 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/06/this_weekend_at_the_movies_19#c755360 Arts Fri, 29 Jun 2007 22:28:43 -0800 Comment by Jay Like I said, Moore talks about universal health care/insurance, not single payer specifically. Annie just called it that because Canada has a single payer system.

]]> Jay http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/06/this_weekend_at_the_movies_19#c755396 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/06/this_weekend_at_the_movies_19#c755396 Arts Sat, 30 Jun 2007 00:34:57 -0800 Comment by Jay Oh, and because Moore has advocated for a single-pay system in public forums other than the film.

]]> Jay http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/06/this_weekend_at_the_movies_19#c755397 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/06/this_weekend_at_the_movies_19#c755397 Arts Sat, 30 Jun 2007 00:36:45 -0800