Critical Analysis of 'Sicko': A Comparative Film Review of Reviews

This report presents a film review of Michael Moore's documentary 'Sicko', contrasting the positive and negative reviews of the film. The report begins by summarizing Claudia Puig's positive review in USA Today, which praises Moore's accurate portrayal of the healthcare system in the United States, highlighting his interviews with doctors and medical representatives, and his comparison of the US healthcare system to those in the UK and Cuba. The report then summarizes David Denby's negative review in The New Yorker, criticizing Moore's attacks on political institutions and his comparisons of healthcare systems. The report includes links to both reviews and provides a reference list. The assignment aims to analyze and compare the critical reception of the documentary, offering insights into the film's impact and the different perspectives it generated.

Running head: FILM REVIEW OF SICKO
Film Review of Sicko
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1FILM REVIEW OF SICKO
Positive Review
The positive review of the documentary “Sicko” had been provided by Claudia Puig
of USA Today. In the review, itself, the reviewer has praised the filmmaker for portraying
accurately the reality of the healthcare services in the country. The film reviewer has
commented on the accurate interviews which the film reviewer had taken with the doctors
and the medical representatives in the country to find out the reality of the healthcare services
that happened in the country itself.
“Having been criticized in the past for being too dominant a presence in his films,
Moore hangs back this time, asking pointed questions but letting others do most of the
talking.”
The reviewer also appreciates the filmmaker on the point of how he had let the subject
of the film tell the audiences about the topic of the film rather than letting himself talk as he
had been criticized for resorting to such activities in the past. The reviewer also appreciates
how the filmmaker had held the politicians and the influential people of the country itself for
indulging in such activities (Ricciardelli, 2014). Through the review, the readers also get to
know about the comparisons which the filmmaker had made between the healthcare systems
of the country with those of the healthcare systems in the countries of U.K., and also in the
country of Cuba where the healthcare systems are much better than the ones in the United
States of America.
Therefore, it is from the reviews itself, that it becomes clear to the readers itself that
the filmmaker Michael Moore has created a documentary which presents the controversial
topic of the horrible reality of the healthcare institutions in the country itself (Cook, 2014). It
is because of the facts that the filmmaker has presented in the documentary itself that the
review by film critic Claudia Puig of USA Today is considered to be a positive review of the

2FILM REVIEW OF SICKO
documentary “Sicko” which was directed by the filmmaker Claudia Puig and is based on the
healthcare systems of the country of the United States of America.
Negative Review
The negative review of the documentary “Sicko” has been provided by David Denby
of The New Yorker. In the review, the reviewer of The New Yorker has criticized
documentary filmmaker Michael Moore for attacking the political institutions of the country
and the way in which these institutions work in the country as well. The reviewer praises the
filmmaker for the topics that he chooses for the documentary but at the same time criticizes
the director for the toned criticism for the way he had attacked the institutions.
The reviewer also states his disapproval against the way in which the filmmaker had
compared the healthcare institutions of other countries with the healthcare institutions of
U.S.A.
“After the early tales of the system’s failure, “Sicko” becomes feeble, even inane. A
recent poll shows that a majority of Americans not only favour a national health service
but are willing to pay higher taxes for it.”
It is in these lines that the readers get to know the fact that the reviewer had criticized
the maker of the documentary not only on the basis of his attacks on the institutions in the
country itself but also on the way in which the documentary maker had decided to make the
film himself. The reviewer is of the opinion that that the film although is a typical
documentary made by Moore himself, could still have been better as compared to some of the
other films which he had made. This accounts for the negative review of the film which was
made by the documentary maker himself (Ricciardelli, 2014).

3FILM REVIEW OF SICKO
Links
Positive Review: https://usatoday30.usatoday.com/life/movies/reviews/2007-06-21-sicko
Negative Review: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2007/07/02/do-no-harm

4FILM REVIEW OF SICKO
Reference List
Cook, R.F., Voss, T.P., Prager, B. and Hearne, J., 2015. Journalism, Politics, and
Contemporary Documentaries: A “Based on a True Story” Dossier. Visual Communication
Quarterly, 22(1), pp.15-33.
Ricciardelli, L., 2014. American Documentary Filmmaking in the Digital Age: Depictions of
War in Burns, Moore, and Morris. Routledge.