[Marxism] Michael Moore: An Awesome First Night for "SiCKO"

[Walter Lippmann]

I'd like to encourage everyone who can to get to a theater
and see "SiCKO" today. It makes a big difference from the
financial side if the first weekend goes well. I saw the
movie at the first performance on Friday afternoon and 
the audience really enjoyed the picture, which speaks to
problems which millions of us have here in the heartland
of liberty, capitalist style. Friends tell me that they've
seen one or another political group leafletting "SiCKO"'s
performances, and it's obvious that this is a movie, but
it's more than a movie. It's a political event and one to
be appreciated and encouraged. Though the parts shot in 
Cuba are of interest, as is the interview with the daughter
of Che Guevara, physician Aleida Guevara, the key to this
entire film is the idea that health care is a human right.

A particularly apt section was one in which we're shown
stridently anti-Communist propaganda films from the 1940s
and 1950s, including singing peasants on a collective farm
in the Soviet Union. Then images of Ronald Reagan and more
to show how the people of the United States have been very
heavily diseducated against the simple notion that healty
care is a human right. If you've ever seen the wonderful
graphics in the book RED SCARED, an anthology of Cold War
images and propaganda from Hollywood, this film brings 
that concept to the fore in a powerful manner.

Have other people here seen the film? Thoughts on it?


Walter Lippmann
Tinseltown, California
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From: maillist at michaelmoore.com
Sent: Jun 30, 2007 8:07 PM
To: walterlx at earthlink.net
Subject: An Awesome First Night for "Sicko"
An Awesome First Night for "Sicko"

Saturday, June 30th, 2007

Friends,

Thank you so much to the hundreds of thousands of you who went to see
my movie last night and this afternoon. The studio tells me that we
are on track to have the second largest opening weekend for a
documentary in the history of the movies! ("Fahrenheit 9/11" was
first.) Many theaters have been selling out. The Bush administration's 
investigation of this movie is certainly not keeping people away. 
Thanks for all the pictures you sent me of people packing in to see "Sicko!"

The movie is making impact big and small. I thought you would enjoy
this story about a family that Aetna was forcing to pay a $65,000
hospital bill that the insurance company was supposed to cover!

Check it out: 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wz7uRmMUSZM

The critics, too, have been more than kind. Can I show you what a few
of them said?

"It's as uplifting and heart-rending a thing as you will see at the
movies all year. And it speaks of Moore's enduring faith -- his
angry, nettled, exasperated belief that 'despite all our differences,
we sink or swim together.' " -- Amy Biancolli, Houston Chronicle

"The weight of evidence Moore marshals for taking the profit motive
out of medicine is overwhelming. In a summer of dumb, shameless
drivel, Moore delivers a movie of robust mind and heart. You'll laugh
till it hurts." -- Peter Travers, Rolling Stone

"'Sicko' is a beyond brilliant, nonpartisan expose' on American
politics that should be mandatory for every student in America. Some
rich person -- like maybe Angelina Jolie -- should sponsor a program
where DVDs are sent to families or free screenings are held at local
churches." -- Caroline Kepnes, E!

There's a moment in "Sicko" when the former British MP, Tony Benn,
says, "If we have the money to kill people (with war), we've got the
money to help people." That line always gets the loudest applause in
the theater. It is estimated that, before Bush's War is over, we will
have spent two trillion dollars on it. Let me say this: I NEVER want
to hear again from ANY politician that we "don't have the money" to
fix our schools, to take care of the poor, to provide health care for
every American. Clearly, the money IS there when we want to illegally
invade another country and then prolong a disastrous occupation. From
now on, we have to demand that our tax dollars be there for the
things we need, not the things that make us one of the most detested
countries on earth.

If you haven't seen "Sicko," go see it tonight. I want this film to
have as much impact as it can. How well it does in terms of
attendance this first weekend will determine how many other towns get
to see it. It's all about the "first weekend box office" with the
studios these days. If it does well in the 400 theaters it's in, they
will put it in more theaters next weekend. And trust me, the White
House and their friends in the pharmaceutical and health insurance
industries know this, too. It's no surprise to me that an original
master of "Sicko" was stolen and widely distributed on the internet
before the film's release. I'm one of the few people in the movie
business who doesn't believe in prosecuting teenagers who want to
share music or films (although I make my movies to be seen on a big
screen and that's how I hope people see them!). I called up Mr.
Bush's FBI last week. I wanted to know if they had asked themselves
the first question any cop would ask about this particularly unique
theft:

"Who has a vested interest in destroying the first weekend of Michael
Moore's new film by stealing his movie's master copy and placing it
on the internet?"

Needless to say, they showed little interest in investigating who's
behind this. That's ok. I realize what's at stake for them and I
accept that this is a battle with serious consequences. The drug and
insurance companies have dumped over a half billion dollars in the
pockets of Congress and the White House in the last 10 years. This
movie may end up being their worst nightmare.

But here's the good news: There's more of us than there are of them.
So, it's up to the rest of you to help me help this movie have a
great opening weekend. If over a half million people come out to see
it by tomorrow night, the studio will take that to mean it should be
in more cities and more theaters. Let's make that happen. And I
promise you, if you go, you'll see a movie unlike any other you've
seen this year. Last night, the industry polled the people coming out
of "Sicko." 93% said they would "strongly recommend 'Sicko'" to their
friends and family. The pollster said he'd never seen a number that
high (the norm for most movies is about 45%). It was a heartening
piece of news.

Thanks again and see ya tonight at the movies!

Yours,
Michael Moore
mmflint at aol.com



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WALTER LIPPMANN
Editor-in-Chief, CubaNews
writer - photographer - activist
http://www.walterlippmann.com
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