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Michael Moore: Fear Of Seizure … Or Fear Of Failure :: MAXINE
After the surprising breakout success of Michael Moore’s “mockumentary” Fahrenheit 9/11 … you remember, the “Palme d'Or” awarded 2004 film at Cannes designed to derail a presidential election and paint all people who believe our freedom loving way of life was somehow being hijacked by (not Islamo-Fascist terrorists) George H. W. Bush and his administration … the film maker had a very steep hill to climb with the release of his follow-on effort entitled “SICKO”.
He entered the film in the Cannes Film Festival for 2007 in the hopes of repeating his political and cultural coup. The film was a bust – no award, not even an honorable mention.
As one reviewer wrote, "Sicko, Michael Moore's new film, is ostensibly about health care in America; it's not, any more than Moby Dick is about a fishing trip. Like Moore's other documentaries (Fahrenheit 9-11, Bowling for Columbine), Sicko's central theme is American democracy -- how it works, where it doesn't -- and the culture of capital.
Moore then tells how he anonymously sent a check for the cost of the wife's treatment -- $12,000. It's a funny bit -- and, to anyone who can parse a sentence, not actually 'anonymous' at all, anymore.
It's that tone -- of selfless self-celebration, of public altruism, of snide sensitivity -- that undercuts a lot of Moore's work, and it undermines Sicko.” - James Rocci
So now SICKO is reported as being leaked to a video posting site ostensibly to protect the film from being confiscated by the Federal Government.
This excerpted from Zero Paid -
Michael Moore's new documentary "Sicko" leaked on BitTorrent
posted by soulxtc in bittorrent - 6-15-2007
Won't have to worry about copies getting seized by the Feds after all as his new controversial film makes its way around BitTorrent tracker sites everywhere.
A couple of days ago it was reported that Michael Moore had decided to stash a copy of his latest and greatest documentary "Sicko," an apparently scathing expose on the US healthcare system, in Canada just in case the Feds decided to confiscate it.
He feared such a seizure because of the fact that part of the documentary was filmed in Cuba without proper authorization from the US Treasury Department. Its illegal for US citizens to travel to Cuba because of a trade embargo in place since 1962.
Moore insists he hasn't broken any laws because he traveled to Cuba for a "journalistic endeavor."
"We brought back 15 minutes of the movie and we're concerned about any possible confiscation efforts," Moore told a news conference in New York.
"We took measures a few weeks ago to place a master copy of this film in Canada so if they did take our negative we would have a duplicate negative of this film in Canada."
Well, it would seem his concerns are no longer warranted because a DVDSCR of the film, the most magical download of them all (Oscar season anyone?), has appeared on BitTorrent tracker sites for all the world to see.
So now, even if the Treasury Dept does decide to seize his film, it looks like there will be plenty of copies to go around.
Moore's stance on file-sharing is that it's okay so as long people aren't profiting from it. He feels that the message behind his films are what's most important, and that he does well enough financially that he's more concerned with spreading ideas than he is with ensuring that everybody properly pays to hear them.
Reference at source>>
We at MAXINE believe this, SICKO was pre-released to the internet so that Michael Moore would have a scapegoat for the films commercial failure.
With all of Michael Moore’s liberal, socialistic views … he has proven himself a capitalistic egomaniac and will go to ANY length to promote his products and give himself wiggle-room. Especially when the appearent success of his current product does not match up to previous efforts.
SICKO may be the title of Moore’s latest effort but it is also describes a bent in the personality of Michael Moore himself --- A Counter-Culture-Capitalist!
Crowd Power
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ricknight
Newmarket, Ontario, Canada -
Edmund Jenks
Los Angeles, California, United States







Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (4)
at 10:08 on June 19th, 2007
My only problem with Moore is that he goes after really easy targets; not many people would be willing to argue that the US health-care system is perfectly hunky-dory (do we still say that?), and one often gets the feeling that his films are as much about him as the subject in the title. As for BitTorrent, a leaked copy could actually help sell tickets, especially if th eleaked copy is of a low quality. A Canadian sci-fi author named Cory Doctorow found that he sold more novels when online copies were available for free.
(Message to Maserati: free one-week test drives, please...)
at 10:24 on June 19th, 2007
J:
You are exactly right as to Moore's motive - It is ALL about the tickets.
And Yes! - some of us still use hunky-dory (and ooopsy, okey-dokey, you bet'ja, absolutly-positively, ... well, you get the idea, don'cha?)
at 12:12 on June 19th, 2007
Moony:
It really is the cynical way in which MM decides to dispatch his point of view that I have a problem with more than his POV in general. However, he does become a little bit of a moonbat (sorry) when he begins to sound like Rosie O'Donnell during a recent questioning session reported on by KEARNEY - Michael Moore: 9/11 Could Be Inside Job!
I would just like a little more humility, clearity, and honesty out of the man. He really doesn't have to become a muckraker in order to stir the pot.
at 12:35 on June 19th, 2007
As one reviewer wrote, "Sicko, Michael Moore's new film, is ostensibly about health care in America; it's not, any more than Moby Dick is about a fishing trip. Like Moore's other documentaries (Fahrenheit 9-11, Bowling for Columbine), Sicko's central theme is American democracy -- how it works, where it doesn't -- and the culture of capital.
Moore then tells how he anonymously sent a check for the cost of the wife's treatment -- $12,000. It's a funny bit -- and, to anyone who can parse a sentence, not actually 'anonymous' at all, anymore.
It's that tone -- of selfless self-celebration, of public altruism, of snide sensitivity -- that undercuts a lot of Moore's work, and it undermines Sicko.” - James Rocci
It is Michael Moore's brand of capitalism that is the only one that is good for Michael Moore ... and hence, the rest of us - That is probably the biggest beef I have with MM and anyone who signs totally on with him. It is an intellectually dishonest position.