Sicko and Moore
Dawli 10
Elias Dawli
Wrt105
Professor Bollinger
December 12, 2010
SiCKo: The ThoughtProvoker
Michael Francis Moore is a controversial American filmmaker who has directed numerous documentaries. These documentaries have taken a large spectrum of popular
American issues and reduced them to one: capitalism. His most popular cinematic works include Bowling for Columbine, Fahrenheit 9/11, Capitalism: A Love Story, and mostnotably, SiCKo. With a liberal stance, Moore has documented his own vision on
America’s large corporations, such as the Bush administration’s foreign policy, financial crises, and the American healthcare system. Although all of his movies are worth naming, SiCKo is one of Moore’s most complex documentaries, for it discusses the issue of the United States of
America’s healthcare system. The issue is not only complex, but also highly debated for it affects the lives of millions of Americans in very profound ways. Broderick Fox, author of
Documentary Media History, Theory, Practice, illustrates different styles that filmmakers use in documentaries. For example, he writes, “The interventional gaze makes no attempt to hide, but rather actively confronts the situation” (Fox 104). Throughout the movie SiCKo, Moore
“actively confronts the situation,” as he sends out the message that America needs universal healthcare supported by our government, because we are a country that neither abandons our citizens to health care debt nor denies our citizens the right to health care. Moore does this through his exceptional ability to throw himself into the middle of the debate of whether America
Dawli 10
should reform its current privately owned healthcare system to a government owned system.
Jane Chapman, author of the book Issue in
Elias Dawli
Wrt105
Professor Bollinger
December 12, 2010
SiCKo: The ThoughtProvoker
Michael Francis Moore is a controversial American filmmaker who has directed numerous documentaries. These documentaries have taken a large spectrum of popular
American issues and reduced them to one: capitalism. His most popular cinematic works include Bowling for Columbine, Fahrenheit 9/11, Capitalism: A Love Story, and mostnotably, SiCKo. With a liberal stance, Moore has documented his own vision on
America’s large corporations, such as the Bush administration’s foreign policy, financial crises, and the American healthcare system. Although all of his movies are worth naming, SiCKo is one of Moore’s most complex documentaries, for it discusses the issue of the United States of
America’s healthcare system. The issue is not only complex, but also highly debated for it affects the lives of millions of Americans in very profound ways. Broderick Fox, author of
Documentary Media History, Theory, Practice, illustrates different styles that filmmakers use in documentaries. For example, he writes, “The interventional gaze makes no attempt to hide, but rather actively confronts the situation” (Fox 104). Throughout the movie SiCKo, Moore
“actively confronts the situation,” as he sends out the message that America needs universal healthcare supported by our government, because we are a country that neither abandons our citizens to health care debt nor denies our citizens the right to health care. Moore does this through his exceptional ability to throw himself into the middle of the debate of whether America
Dawli 10
should reform its current privately owned healthcare system to a government owned system.
Jane Chapman, author of the book Issue in
Cited: Callenbach, Ernest. “SiCKO:Ernest Callenbach Applauds A Witty Documentary Broadside.” Rev. of SiCKO, by Michael Moore. Film Quarterly. 2007 Winter: 18. Dawli 10 Chapman, Jane. Issues in Contemporary Documentary. Cambridge, UK: Polity, 2009. Fox, Broderick. Documentary Media: History, Theory, Practice. Boston: Allyn & Bacon, 2010. Gupta, Sanjay. "CNN.com Paging Dr. Gupta Blog." CNN.com Breaking News, U.S., World, Weather, Entertainment & Video News. 11 July 2007. Web. 13 Dec. 2010. Smaill, Belinda. The Documentary: Politics, Emotion, Culture. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan, 2010.