The Michael
Moore Collection: SiCKO, Fahrenheit 9/11
and Bowling For Columbine
“Just
when you thought
it was safe…
Controversial Michael
Moore investigates the
unthinkable. Now the
brilliantly thought-
provoking The Michael
Moore Collection is
available on DVD featuring
the essential trio of SiCKO, Fahrenheit 9/11 and Bowling For Columbine...”
ALMOST FIFTY MILLION AMERICANS pray they don't get sick, because they
have no health insurance. But what of the 250 million who are insured —
do they really live 'The American Dream'?
Written, Produced and Directed by Michael Moore in his uniquely quirky way,
SiCKO reveals a heartless, money-grabbing side to the US health care
system — where health insurance sometimes fails to help the very people
it is there to protect. The US health care ranks low among that of developed
nations, despite costing more per person than anywhere in the world. Yet free
medical care is available in Canada, Great Britain and France.
Advertising for health care horror stories opened a floodgate for Michael and
in one week he received 25,000 emails from Americans
who had been denied basic medical care. Having suffered several heart attacks
and his wife Donna having contracted cancer, Larry Smith
was left bankrupt and homeless after "deductibles". And a 22-year-old
was denied help when she contracted cervical cancer because she
was "too young to have it".
Michael found one man who was working into retirement in order to afford essential
medication and another who was forced to choose between one of two fingers he
had severed! A nine-month-old girl losing her hearing was offered a cochlear
implant for only one ear and
a young woman had to pay for an ambulance herself after a car accident because
"it wasn't pre-approved". One of the saddest cases is that of Julie Pierce,
whose husband Tracy was suffering from kidney cancer and was denied ongoing
treatment. His appeal failed and he died, leaving behind a young son.
But there also appear to be difficulties in getting approved for medical insurance
in the first place. You could be excluded because of your height or weight,
if your body mass index is too high or if you have certain pre-existing conditions
from a long list.
Michael speaks to former employees of the health care industry who left their
jobs because of their disillusionment. One company has the mantra: "Every American
deserves affordable healthcare". Tell that to Maria Watanabe who became ill
in Japan and diagnosed as having a brain tumour after her health insurance company
told her she didn't have one.
But Michael did manage to find someone in the health care industry who did have
a conscience — Dr Linda Pinot, who made a testimony before the US congress
in 1996 and who is still haunted by the "deadly word": Denied.
Finally, Michael gathers a group of 9/11 heroes, rescue workers now suffering
from debilitating illnesses and unable to receive help at home, to take them
to a most unexpected place where they receive the tender care unavailable in
the richest nation on earth. It's in a place where they don't do health care
for a profit and they aim for the highest standards. You'll be amazed at where
it is!
"The greatness of America lies not in being more enlightened than any other
nation, but rather in her ability to repair her faults" — Alexis de Tocqueville
(he's French!)
The well-chosen theme song, Alone Without You, was written by Tom Morello
and performed by the Nightwatchmen, courtesy of Epic Records (by arrangement
with Sony BMG Music entertainment).
* Following the trailblazing path of his previous hit films — the Oscar-winning
Bowling For Columbine and all-time box-office hit documentary Fahrenheit
9/11 — Michael Moore's brilliantly thought-provoking new film, SiCKO,
has been called his best film ever. Released on 7 January (2008) at £17.99 (or
as part of The Michael Moore Collection — all three titles for £29.99,
also released on 7 January) from Optimum Home Entertainment.
Extras: Raising Money To Fight Cancer featurette | H.R. 676
(SiCKO Goes To Washington) featurette | Deleted scenes: Is Norway Utopia?;
General Electric in France | Religious Freedom Father Mike featurette
| SiCKO Los Angeles Premiere | Alone Without You music video performed
by Tom Morello | An Interview With Marcia Angel | An Interview With Elizabeth
Warren | An Interview With Aleida Guevara | Tony Benn: A Champion For The
People featurette.
SiCKO Tech Spec: Cert 12 | Feature running time 118 minutes
approx-imately | Region 2 | Feature Aspect Ratio 1.78:1 | Colour PAL | Audio
Stereo 5.1 | English Language | Cat No OPTD1137 | RRP £17.99.
THE SECOND OF MICHAEL MOORE'S films in The Michael Moore Collection,
and one of the most controversial and provocative films of the year, is Fahrenheit
9/11— the Academy Award-winning filmmaker's searing
examination of the Bush adminis-tration's actions in the wake of the
tragic events of 9/11.
With his characteristic humour and dogged commitment to uncovering the truth,
Michael reflects on the presidency of George W Bush and where it has led us.
He looks at how and why Bush and his inner circle avoided pursuing the Saudi
connection of 9/11, despite the fact that 15 of the 19 hijackers were Saudis
and that Saudi money had funded
Al Qaeda. Furthermore, 860 billion dollars is reputed to be invested in America
by Saudis — that is, six or seven per cent of America.
Fahrenheit 9/11 alludes to a nation kept in constant fear by FBI alerts,
and lulled into accepting a piece of legislation — The USA Patriot Act
— that infringes on basic civil rights. It was in this atmosphere of con-fusion,
suspicion and dread that the Bush Administration swiftly moved to a war in Iraq
— and Fahrenheit 9/11 takes us inside that war to tell the stories
we haven't heard, laying bare the awful human cost to US soldiers and to their
families.
As a mark of respect, the film opens in total darkness, with only the sounds
of the horrendous attack on the World Trade Centre, before focusing on the shock
and disbelief on the faces of American citizens struggling to take in the traumatic
events of 9/11 as debris rained down like the tears of America.
On September 11, 2001, nearly three thousand people (including a colleague of
Michael Moore's, Bill Weems) were killed in the largest foreign attack ever
on American soil — the targets: the financial and military headquarters
of the United States.
At the time, George Bush was visiting an elementary school in Florida and the
film shows his reaction when he was told of the attack on America. Perhaps unfairly,
there is a suggestion that Mr Bush chose to take a 'photo-opportunity'. Maybe
he was in shock — the fact that he'd cut terrorism funding from the FBI
showed that he could never have contemplated such a tragedy, although a security
briefing given to him on August 6, 2001, had warned of a plan by Osama bin Laden
to attack America by hijacking airplanes.
Michael Moore talks to a retired senior FBI agent, a senator, and relat-ives
of the victims of 9/11. He also looks at the Bush family's business interests
with the bin Laden family and at George Bush's friend Major James R Bath, who
was at one time the Texas money manager for the bin Ladens and who had also
invested money in one of Bush's com-panies.
Michael Moore raises many questions: Why was information that should have been
given to the 9/11 Commission not given, or given past the deadline? Why haven't
the relatives of the victims been reassured
by answers they need to give them some sort of closure? What is the "Coalition
of the Willing" and why are we in Iraq?
Fahrenheit 9/11 gives the viewer much food for thought and seeks to provoke
an answer to those questions. It is sometimes distressing and it is heartbreaking
to hear the interviews, especially with the soldiers who have been fighting
in Iraq. "I don't have any clue as to why
we're still in Iraq," says one. And another: "You cannot kill someone without
killing a part of yourself." Yet another is willing to face a jail sentence
and states: "I will not let anyone send me back to kill other poor people… especially
when they pose no threat to me."
George Bush claims: "We wage a war to save civilisation itself." But
in this case, Michael Moore argues he is wrong. George Orwell once wrote: "It's
not a matter of whether the war is not real or if it is, victory is not possible.
The war is not meant to be won. It is meant to be continuous. A hierarchical
society is only possible on the basis of poverty and ignorance. This new version
is the past and no different past can ever have existed." The truth is out there.
Michael Moore also talks to a number of patriotic Americans who do believe what
their country is doing is the right thing. The camera at once stage zooms in
on a sign above a church: God is in the miracle business. So he is.
Fahrenheit 9/11 is dedicated to: Michael Pedersen, Brett Petriken and
all the soldiers from the Flint area who have died in the Iraq War. Also to
Bill Weems and the 2,973 who died on 9/11/2001 and the countless thousands who
have died in Afghanistan and Iraq as a result of our actions. (Amen).
Another good theme tune here: Rockin' In The Free World, written
and performed by Neil Young, courtesy of Warner Bros Records Inc
by arrangement with Warner Strategic Marketing.
HUMOROUS, YET AT THE SAME TIME DISTURBING, Bowling For Columbine has
been Written, Produced and Directed by Michael Moore and highlights the violent
soul of America — especially
gun crime.
Eleven thousand people die each year in America from bullet wounds, but why
is it so bad? Can it be true — as some people suggest — that Satan
is at work? Or is it the increasingly-explicit violence of video games? Or is
it something else entirely?
Why should America be so different from other countries and how has the country
become both the instigator and the victim of such wide-spread violence?
In his own inimitable style, Michael Moore looks at this growing, horribly destructive
culture. But it is not a documentary about controlling guns. This film gets
right to the fearful heart and soul of The United States and the 280 million
Americans who are privileged to have the right to a constitutionally-protected
Uzi.
Bowling For Columbine raises the question: What of the rights of the
victims of gun crime? And how would you rescind a right that has been in place
for hundreds of years?
Bowling For Columbine is part of The Michael Moore Collection,
which
is available now.
“Just
when you thought