GOOD Movies
- Posted by: Andrew Price
- on June 29, 2007 at 8:00 pm
Manufactured Landscapes
Directed by Jennifer Baichwal. In limited release.
“The film opens with an amazing eight-minute pan of a seemingly endless Chinese factory….there follows a succession of visually rewarding images (by Mettler and Burtynsky) of sights and sites that the word ‘beautiful’ is rarely used to describe… like something out of a German expressionist film.”
Review by V.A. Musetto, The New York Post.
SiCKO
Directed by Michael Moore. In general release.
“In Canada he encounters a man who caught a hockey puck the wrong way and sliced off all the fingers on his hand. “Socialized medicine” put the fingers back. By contrast, an American who sliced off only two fingertips was told one tip would cost $60,000 to repair but the other only $12,000. He chose the $12,000 operation.”
Review by Kirk Honeycutt, The Hollywood Reporter.
Falling
Directed by Barbara Albert. Opens at the Anthology Film Archives, in Manhattan.
“At once a character study times five and something of a generational snapshot, Falling is the most recent feature from Barbara Albert, a gifted writer and director who’s helping heat up the Austrian film scene.”
Review by Manohla Dargis, The New York Times.
Over the G.W.
Directed by Nick Gaglia. Open at the Two Boots Pioneer Theater in Manhattan.
“Over the G W is a disturbing look at reprogramming that masquerades as rehabilitation. Having been forced to drink the Kool-Aid, Mr. Gaglia has produced a work that’s as much an act of emesis as of filmmaking.”
Review by Jeannette Catsoulis, The New York Times.
DISCUSSION: 2 Comments
I have friends in UK that have complained about their health care. Methinks Mr. Moore left a lot out. When my friend was pregnant, she had to stand on her head to schedule prenatal care. She had some supplemental health insurance, but she had to use a certain hospitals’ NICU and the place was so bad and filthy she thought she was in a 3rd world country.
As far as Canada, while I hear a lot of relief of how nice it is not to pay a low amount of insurance and one does feel just taken care of, they had major problems during SARS. They were ill equipped when SARS hit and some hospitals did not even have computer systems to track patients who may have been infected.
Ultimately, our US insurance system is a hostile one, because it is privately owned, there is a lot of “we don’t cover this” type thing and we have to use lawyers to fight it. And I remember definitely not having the feeling I was well-taken care of in case of an emergency even when I had health insurance.
Neither the Canadian nor American health delivery system is free. Canadians pay with their tax dollars. Americans expect the latest and best technology delivered quickly. This kind of care is expensive. Canada limit these costs with less timely medical delivery. The average wait for specialized services is 17 weeks. Some Canadians prefer to pay for these advanced services in the US, India or Thailand. It is illegal to have private medical insurance in Canada.