SICKO (2007, U.S.A., 123 min.), directed by Michael Moore; written by Michael Moore; music by Erin O’Hara; edited by Geoffrey Richman, Chris Seward, and Dan Swietlik; with Michael Moore and many others.

 

Please jot down answers to the following questions and answer three in detail.  One of the three longer answers should be to the final question.

 

1.         Discuss the title.  What kinds of expectations does it set up?  Does it capture the tone of the film?

 

 

 

 

2.         This film might be said to fall into the subgenre of the “First-Person Documentary.”  One of the obvious characteristics of this genre is the centrality of the filmmaker in exploring some facet of his/her experience or past.  Discuss the role of the filmmaker in this film.

 

 

 

 

3.         Some documentaries try to achieve a sense (or an illusion) of objectivity, of balance.  Others are openly polemical, argumentative, in their mode of presentation.  Michael Moore’s films tend to fall into the latter category.  Discuss what makes this film polemical.  Would you go so far as to call it propaganda?

 

 

 

 

4.         How does this film provide you with the information that you need to know?

 

 

 

 

5.         In his films Michael Moore likes to blend two of the major types of documentary: the historical/analytical (which uses documentary footage, photos and texts to reveal and enlighten) and the cinema verite (following an event or experience as it unfolds).  How exactly are they blended here?

 

 

 

 

6.         Like all films, documentaries have structure.  Some of the structure may have been outlined in advance, but much of it takes shape during the editing process.  How is this film structured?  When does it begin?  When does it end?  How are the stories organized?  Does this structure work?

 

 

 

 

7.         Now, looking at the individual segments of the film, consider the editing.  What is left in and what is left out? 

 

 

 

 

8.         Which of the individual “stories” in the film did you find most convincing and compelling?  Why?

 

 

 

 

9.         As argument, the film tries to anticipate many of the objections to our ability to make radical changes to our healthcare system.  List a number of these objections and indicate how the film seeks to answer those charges.

 

 

 

 

10.       Discuss the ending of the film.  Does it work?

 

 

 

 

11.       Discuss the film’s use of music.  Manipulative?  Ironic?  A combination?  Give examples if you can.

 

 

 

 

12.       Read all the reviews of Sicko and compare/contrast five of them.  Which was your favorite, and why?

 

 

 

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