Sicko (Special Edition)

For many Americanslaughter isn't the best medicine - it's the only medicine.ProductInformationIn Sicko filmmaker Michael Moore returns with a hilariously scathingindictment of America's failing health system.  Combiningpowerful personal testimonies with shocking statistics Moore pulls thecurtain back on the greedy HMOs drug companies and congressmen whokeep us ill.  Traveling to Canada England France and Cuba-where free universal health care is the norm - he forces withquestion: Why can't this happen in the U.S.?  Timely andtouching the Special Edition of the film includes bonus materialwritten and directed by Michael Moore.Product Features Includes over 80 minutes of all-new material by MichaelMoore Sicko Goes to Washington This Country Beats France Uniquely American What if You Worked for G.E. in France? Sister Mary Fidel Who Would Jesus Deny? More With Mike and Tony Benn A Different Kind of Hollywood Premiere "Alone Without You" Music Video Performed by TheNightwatchman Interview Gallery Theatrical TrailerSpecifications Format:  Color DVD-VideoWidescreen Language:  English Subtitles:  English Spanish Number of Discs: 1 Rating:  PG-13 Run Time:  123 minutes Directed By:  Michael Moore

SiCKO is more like a controlled howl of protest than a documentary. Toning down the rhetoric of past efforts--no CEOs, congressmen, or celebrities were accosted in the making of this film--Michael Moore's latest provocation is just as heartfelt, if not more heartbreaking. As he clarifies from the outset, his subject isn't the 45 million Americans without insurance, but those whose coverage has failed to meet their needs. He starts by speaking with patients who've been denied life-saving procedures, like chemotherapy, for the most spurious of reasons. Then he travels to Canada, England, and France to see if socialized medicine is as inefficient as U.S. politicians like to claim--especially those who receive funding from pharmaceutical companies. Moore finds quality care available to all, regardless as to income. He concludes with a stunt that made headlines when he assembles a group of 9/11 rescue workers suffering from a variety of afflictions. When Moore is informed that detainees at Guantánamo Bay--technically American soil--qualify for universal coverage, he and his companions travel to Cuba to get in on that action. It's a typically grandstanding move on Moore's part. And it proves remarkably effective when these altruistic individuals, who've either been denied treatment or forced to pay outrageous costs for their medication, experience a dramatically different system. Nine years in the making, SiCKO makes a persuasive case that it's time for America to catch up with the rest of the world. --Kathleen C. Fennessy