stephanie
06-13-2007, 06:03 PM
:rolleyes:
Filmmaker, health care activists promote 'Sicko' while demanding reforms in industry
By Joe Garofoli / San Francisco Chronicle
Sacramento -- As Michael Moore stood on the west steps of the Capitol on Tuesday and led 1,000 activists in chanting "It's time for them to go" -- health insurance companies, that is -- he looked less like a Hollywood director promoting his new takedown of the health care industry and more like the frontman of a national political campaign.
That's because he is both.
In the days before Moore's film "Sicko" opens June 29 in 3,000 theaters nationwide, the director will be the centerpiece of a campaign that melds activism, policy, politics and Hollywood into a media force like no other widely released film. The campaign premiered Tuesday in Sacramento -- complete with nurses wearing red surgical scrubs and chanting "Hey-hey! Ho-ho! Private health care is sick-o!"
Moore's day started with a closed-door tete-a-tete with Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez, D-Los Angeles, followed by a joint news conference before 15 TV cameras, where Núñez was flanked by posters for the movie and Moore diplomatically praised their "excellent meeting," even though Núñez supports a plan that doesn't immediately offer universal coverage, as Moore wants.
Then it was off to an "unofficial" public briefing led by state Sen. Sheila Kuehl, D-Santa Monica -- whose single-payer plan Moore supports -- followed by a Capitol rally and march anchored by 1,000 members of the California Nurses Association, whose anecdotes over the years helped to inspire Moore to make the film. Then Moore screened the movie.
The word echoing around the Capitol building Tuesday wasn't "movie." It was "movement." Funny, Moore said, "how they both have the same root word: 'movie,' 'movement.' "
"I always set out to make a movie that people will enjoy, have a good time watching on Friday night," Moore told The Chronicle on Tuesday. "I'm asking for a little something here. I'm going to provide the entertainment, but I'm hoping that a certain percentage of the audience will be thinking about the issues that I raised, and a certain percentage of them will go out and do something."
The film is a godsend for those like the powerful nurses union and assorted health policy wonks who support its single-payer, free universal coverage message.
"This movie validates what we do every day," said Margie Keenan after seeing the movie Tuesday. The Long Beach registered nurse flew north to attend the festivities. She hopes it will spur a public dialogue. "This is going to change everything."
When the movie opens, Keenan will be among activist members of the California Nurses Association and doctors with the Physicians for a National Health Care Program who will stand in front of theaters handing out information on the legislative bills and telling filmgoers how they can get involved.
The rest of this stupid article at...http://www.michaelmoore.com/sicko/news/article.php?id=9896
Filmmaker, health care activists promote 'Sicko' while demanding reforms in industry
By Joe Garofoli / San Francisco Chronicle
Sacramento -- As Michael Moore stood on the west steps of the Capitol on Tuesday and led 1,000 activists in chanting "It's time for them to go" -- health insurance companies, that is -- he looked less like a Hollywood director promoting his new takedown of the health care industry and more like the frontman of a national political campaign.
That's because he is both.
In the days before Moore's film "Sicko" opens June 29 in 3,000 theaters nationwide, the director will be the centerpiece of a campaign that melds activism, policy, politics and Hollywood into a media force like no other widely released film. The campaign premiered Tuesday in Sacramento -- complete with nurses wearing red surgical scrubs and chanting "Hey-hey! Ho-ho! Private health care is sick-o!"
Moore's day started with a closed-door tete-a-tete with Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez, D-Los Angeles, followed by a joint news conference before 15 TV cameras, where Núñez was flanked by posters for the movie and Moore diplomatically praised their "excellent meeting," even though Núñez supports a plan that doesn't immediately offer universal coverage, as Moore wants.
Then it was off to an "unofficial" public briefing led by state Sen. Sheila Kuehl, D-Santa Monica -- whose single-payer plan Moore supports -- followed by a Capitol rally and march anchored by 1,000 members of the California Nurses Association, whose anecdotes over the years helped to inspire Moore to make the film. Then Moore screened the movie.
The word echoing around the Capitol building Tuesday wasn't "movie." It was "movement." Funny, Moore said, "how they both have the same root word: 'movie,' 'movement.' "
"I always set out to make a movie that people will enjoy, have a good time watching on Friday night," Moore told The Chronicle on Tuesday. "I'm asking for a little something here. I'm going to provide the entertainment, but I'm hoping that a certain percentage of the audience will be thinking about the issues that I raised, and a certain percentage of them will go out and do something."
The film is a godsend for those like the powerful nurses union and assorted health policy wonks who support its single-payer, free universal coverage message.
"This movie validates what we do every day," said Margie Keenan after seeing the movie Tuesday. The Long Beach registered nurse flew north to attend the festivities. She hopes it will spur a public dialogue. "This is going to change everything."
When the movie opens, Keenan will be among activist members of the California Nurses Association and doctors with the Physicians for a National Health Care Program who will stand in front of theaters handing out information on the legislative bills and telling filmgoers how they can get involved.
The rest of this stupid article at...http://www.michaelmoore.com/sicko/news/article.php?id=9896