Moore defies US ban threat

[cal04]

Director tells Cannes festival that government action against film about healthcare would be 'insane'
The contentious new film from American satirical documentary-maker Michael Moore had an emotional international premiere at the Cannes Film Festival yesterday.

The disturbing nature of Sicko, which deals with the failings of the American healthcare system, has been a closely guarded secret until now. It focuses on the suffering caused to the nine million children living in the United States whom Moore says are left without any health cover because of the country's reliance on private insurance. 'We are the last country in the industrialised world to have this system,' the film-maker said after the screening. 'The poorest child in Britain has a longer life expectancy than the average American child.'

Moore's style in this film is less confrontational than in his previous documentaries, Fahrenheit 9/11 and Bowling for Columbine, and he said this was a deliberate move. 'I wanted a different tone. I wanted to show things a different way,' he said. 'I started to think about the whole conceit about the audience living vicariously through someone on screen. This film is a call to action. It is not for Michael Moore to do it, but for the American people to do it.'

Moore said he had his own health cover through his union membership and that since making Sicko he has gone on a diet. 'I am actually a fairly skinny person from the Midwest,' he said. 'But I am eating those things you call fruit and vegetables. Inspired by the film, I have lost about 25 pounds in the last two months.'

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/world/story/0,,2084050,00.html

[Jack Sprat]

1. Oh great. Moore is more American than Bush

ever thought about being and they want to investigate him. The Bush Crime Family is who needs to be investigated.

[pretzel4gore]

2. the nazipoohs scared Mike

i recall the michaelmoore.com forum (along with Mediawhoresonline.com and Democraticunderground.com the 3 basics of the internet in those olden days:()...the forum was magnificent-and the community there was; well it seemed the only refuge in the bushworld was them 3.....now only DU remains ... Imagine the hatred Mike went through after F911 (including recently a frontal attack on Mike, for taking 'editorial privileges' , and this in a media where 'Saddam funded the 911 attack' as reported relentlessly by foxnews)