Sicko

This was a strange film to watch, it was a documentary on the American health care system and insurance. I am a nursing major, so this documentary is related to my career of choice. I was saddened by all of the accounts that were made on the documentary and I am skeptical as to how far the truth was stretched in the film. I hope that all of the stories were not entirely true because it really makes America question their health care system and where all of their insurance money is going. I was in tears as I heard about the one woman who needed an operation for her brain tumor and the insurance company refused the claim because it was supposedly an “investigational” procedure. The woman ended up dying because she was not able to afford the procedure.
The truth of the matter is that people are denied health care everyday all over the world, not just in the United States. In the US we do have a law that states that any individual who presents his/herself to the emergency department needing emergency care for a life threatening condition, must be treated. However, the doctors and hospitals are the people who ultimately make these decisions.
I think that Michael Moore did manipulate a lot of the information that was presented in the documentary. The MTV website about “Sicko” also stated that Michael Moore had “cherry-picked facts, manipulative interviews, with lingering close-ups of distraught people breaking down in tears, and blithe assertions”. I think that the previous statement is entirely true and I am enraged at the way he went about directing this film. I understand the point that he wanted American to get, our health care system does need reform and the way things are working right now is not just and fair. Millions are uninsured and this is a big problem in the United States but part of the reason our healthcare is so expensive is because of all the people who do not have insurance and seek treatment anyways. Many people do not qualify for Medicare and Medicaid and for whatever reason cannot afford individual health insurance. But some of the people who do not have health insurance choose to not have health insurance because they do not think that they need it.
Over the past decade our people have sought solutions to the problem with our rising healthcare costs. Michael Moore does not focus on solutions to these problems instead he focuses on the horrific stories and highlights other countries healthcare systems. He makes social healthcare seem like it is the only solution, but he does not state the problems that it would bring to our country. In Canada healthcare is free to all people but just as the girl in our class said, you are put on a wait list for operations and you are ranked against other individuals. The woman from class said she needed ACL repair and received prompt treatment because she was young. Now, I do not think that is fair and it scares me to think about what would happen in the United States if that is the direction our government went. It scares me to think that if my grandmother falls down and breaks her hip, she wouldn’t receive treatment until all of the people before her were treated. It is really scary and I pray to God that our healthcare system does not head in the direction of social healthcare.
I do believe that we need to have affordable healthcare and I think that the presidential candidates for this upcoming election have proposed some really good ideas for our healthcare system. The United States has gotten better and our country learns with time, I hope that the new president will be able to make some serious changes in the affordability of health care so that the healthcare costs can level out.
Also, as the article on the MTV website highlighted, Michael Moore focused on how great the French healthcare system was but in 2004 the French declared that its system was out of control and was in need of immediate reform. I do not think that any one country has a perfect healthcare system but I believe that the United States is on its way to a pretty good and efficient system. We learn from our mistakes and our allies mistakes so hopefully America can formulate new and effective ways to make healthcare affordable.
I think that Michael Moore did a good job in directing this film and if it didn’t piss me off I would say that this was a good documentary. He highlighted the right topics and centered on emotions of interviewees which caught the heart of the viewing population. The movie drew in the audience and made them really think about what was being presented in the film. After the movie (before I logically thought things through) I wanted to call my insurance company and demand to speak to the president because I was pissed off. But after I did think about it the truth to the film is stretched and misleading. Prior to this movie, when I thought of a documentary, I thought of a movie that spoke about the facts and true stories. Now, I question every documentary I have ever seen. Michael Moore made it hard for other directors to be able to present documentaries because the population is going to be skeptical after seeing “Sicko”, at least I will be.
To comment on the documentary itself, I think that the interviews were good and the emotion displayed was great. The transitions between scenes were subtle and drug me into the story line, the lighting was good and I didn’t even recognize the music. Was there any music? I guess I was so focused on the characters and their interviews that I didn’t pay attention to the background noise. I cannot say that I enjoyed this movie because I hated it but, I am glad that we watched it.

Cider House Rules

This was a great movie it made me laugh and cry. I was hooked into the story line five minutes into the movie. The movie started telling about Dr. Larch who lived in an orphanage and helped women with deliveries and abortions. One young boy in particular ended up being the “hero” in the movie, Homer. Homer grew up in the orphanage and learned everything there was to know about women’s health and procedures. He was also a positive role model for the fellow orphans. One day a young woman and her boyfriend came in to have their baby aborted and Homer decided to leave with them. Homer started to live a life of apple picking and lobster fishing. He also was able to see the ocean, which he loved, and drive-in movies. Prior to leaving the orphanage he had only seen the movie King Kong and it remained to be his favorite after he saw other movies. Leaving the orphanage was like moving to another world for Homer and he enjoyed it very much. Homer ended up falling in love with the woman who had an abortion. In one scene it was truly beautiful because the two (Homer and the woman) were enjoying the outdoors and playing, when all of a sudden Homer embraced her and didn’t let go. From that moment the two became intimate and shared more than just hands.
Another important part to the movie was Mr. Rose and the apple pickers. They came for apple season and Homer helped with the picking. Mr. Rose’s daughter Rose came back the second summer and was sick every morning. Homer with his past experience with woman knew that she was pregnant. Homer’s girlfriend found out that Rose’s baby’s father was her own dad. Rose decided to have an abortion and Homer performed the procedure. A few nights after the procedure Rose decided to leave and a miscommunication lead to the stabbing of her father. After Rose left Mr. Rose continued to stab himself and was almost dead when Homer came. Mr. Rose told Homer that the story to tell the police was that he killed himself because he had a broken heart.
After receiving news that Dr. Larch had died from an accidental overdose, Homer returned to the orphanage and accepted the role as doctor. Fulfilling this position was natural for Homer and was Dr. Larch’s wish. I was very happy to see Homer accept the role because it seemed so natural for him to help people.
I think that this movie was all about finding yourself and figuring out who you really want to be. There were many ethical components to this movie and I read many negative reviews about the acts of abortion. But this movie was based in the mid 1900’s before much was known about abortion and the development of the fetus. I think that the message was not that abortion is okay or that giving your children up for adoption was okay. I do however think the message was to follow your heart! Homer’s love for the young woman kept him away from the orphanage but his love for Dr. Larch and the children led him home to the orphanage.
Many famous lines have come from this movie, a few I recognized were as follow: “I’ve seen so many women, I have seen everything, but with you, to look at you it hurts.” (Homer), “I’m not sorry that I love you” (Dr. Larch), “some rules are not meant to be followed” (Mr. Rose), “sometimes you gotta make rules to put things straight” (Mr. Rose). I have heard these lines so many times in movies and in conversations with the general public, these lines are classics!
I think the title of this movie was excellent because the movie was all about breaking the rules in the “cider house” but then making new rules in the end. I like that the original rules were all about not going on the roof for many different reasons and to not smoke while laying in bed. The rules seemed funny to me but were only for the men’s safety. In the end the boys told Homer to burn the rules so they were tossed into the stove but as Mr. Rose died he implemented new rules. This is when Mr. Rose stated, “sometimes you gotta make rules to put things straight”, “that’s the honest truth”. I liked this part of the movie because throughout the whole movie things were going on that were morally wrong and this set the stage telling me that everything was going to turn out okay. This part of the movie led me to believe that Homer would follow his heart and go home, and he did!
This was an excellent movie and I had to watch it again with my mom, she liked it too. I like that the movie teaches people that they can explore the world but that eventually they must follow their hearts and do what they were born to do.

Little Miss Sunshine

First of all, I would like to say that “Little Miss Sunshine” was the funniest and most weird movie that I have ever seen. It was crazy and the whole family was dysfunctional. The mother had an addiction of “chain” smoking and the grandfather was addicted to snorting coke. The son (Duane) was strange, and did not speak because he took a vow of silence until he met his goal of becoming a pilot. The uncle, Frank, was a homosexual male who tried to kill himself because his student crush decided to be with a colleague of his and then he was fired from a job. Olive, the child was a chubby seven year old who adored her family and yearned to become Little Miss Sunshine. I think she was cute but compared to some of the other girls she was running up against, she lacked all the skills to become a beauty queen.
One part of the movie almost broke my heart when Olive asked her grandpa if she was pretty. Olive was so worried about losing because her father hated losers and she did not want to be one and was thinking about giving up. Her grandfather told her that “a real loser is someone who doesn’t even try”. In some odd way even though the grandfather was a drug addict he seemed to be an inspiration for the family and a role model for Olive. That was strange!
The entire movie centered on the trip to the Little Miss Sunshine pageant from Albuquerque to California. The family traveled in a dysfunctional yellow bus (go figure) and throughout the movie yellow was used many times. I think that yellow signified unresolved problems. The bus carried the family across state borders and broke down several times. Every time that the family wanted to use the bus they had to work together to push start the bus. When the father tried to use the bus by himself he was unable to push start it and took a moped to Scottsdale trying to get his plan sold. Olive was wearing yellow during the beginning of the movie until she found out that she was a contestant for the Little Miss Sunshine contest and then she wore other bright colors. Duane was often found wearing a yellow shirt until the last few scenes when he started to appear happier (at least until he found out he was color blind and could not be a pilot). Duane finally spoke to his family (actually screamed) and his problem was resolved and he wore white for the rest of the movie. During the scene where the parents were fighting at the hotel, all of the walls were yellow and the furnishings. The use of yellow in this movie was strange for me because when I usually see yellow it is during happy scenes not problematic scenes.
In the end though I think that the yellow signified unity because things seemed brighter for the family and the bus door was fixed. I think that the main lesson I found in this movie was that…. the strength and love of a family can help the members of the family overcome every obstacle that they will face! I know that in my own life I have found that my family has helped me through everything from good times to bad times. I really liked the message of this movie.
Another message I found was in the last few scenes when the family danced together at the pageant to help make Olives experience more rewarding. The family danced and laughed and didn’t care what other people thought of them at the time. I think the message that was portrayed here was that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. To other people at the pageant Olive wasn’t so pretty but to her family she was a beauty queen.
Oh, one more thing, did anyone else think that grandpas death was way out there. The grandfather dies probably from a drug overdose and then the family steals his body and takes him with to California. That’s sick! I understand that they wanted Olives dream to come true but sometimes things need to be postponed. (Although, if they would have stayed with grandpa then the movie would have sucked!)
The music in the movie was excellent! I loved the fact that Olive danced to the song “Super Freak”, the music choices truly made the show funny! And I was impressed because again I was not annoyed with the pitch of the music and admit to listening to many of the songs that played within the movie.
It was interesting to read the article about the actual yellow buses used in the movie. I cannot believe that they had to use five different identical buses. The Volkswagen bus was definitely and important character in the movie. Its comical that all buses had to be on set because they kept breaking down, I’m sure the mechanic loved working on this set.
Until I read the second article I did not realize that it was Arndts first movie. When I read about how movies generally do not talk about money, I realized the significance. It is true normally in movies everyone is rich or else money is not talked about. This movie was made on a low budget and was about a family that was near bankruptcy. (I think that is probably why it is so great, it’s about real life problems.)
This was a great movie and I’m sure that I will watch it again.

The Full Monty

The Full Monty was/is a great film, I have not watched a movie in a long time that made me laugh so hard. It was both a comedy and a drama that kept my attention throughout the entire two hours. It was about 6 men who were unemployed because as former steel workers the industry was not doing so well, so they were unable to seek employment. The men tried to keep their pride by not taking jobs such as cashiers and security guards and instead decided to form a striptease act. Many of the women enjoyed going to watch young men strip so when Gaz had the idea not everyone was willing to join, there were a few old man, a chubby man (Dave), and two homosexual men that formed the group. Throughout the movie the men practiced over and over to the same song and tried to get all of the steps in sync but were unsuccessful until their last show when Gaz finally got in with the beat. The movie’s use of music was excellent, the music was upbeat the entire movie and I often caught myself tapping my foot with the beat of the music. I thought it was especially funny when the men decided to give up before the big show and go back to the unemployment office but had a change of mind when their song came on and all of them started to dance. I laughed so hard! The music also led us into and out of scenes by the beat and loudness of each note. In many older films I think that the music is overdone but I enjoyed the music in this movie, it flowed with the scenes very well.
The film was in color and the costumes for the performance were red which lead me to believe it would be a great performance. Through most of the film the colors were harsh and not very uplifting but during happy scenes the colors were brighter and much softer.
During scenes that were supposed to be happy there were shades of yellow in the background and the cover of the movie is actually yellow too which gives off the “come watch me” vibe.
In the article about the Full Monty the author voiced her opinion on the men’s self-esteem and also about the women’s place in society at that time. She commented on one part of the movie in which the men snuck into the club to find Dave’s wife and three woman entered the men’s bathroom. One of the woman decided it would be funny to use the men’s urinal and the ladies shared quite a laugh. I thought it was funny but Gaz and Dave said that they felt men were useless and felt women were taking over their positions. Dave struggled with feeling inferior to his wife throughout most of the film but the problem resolved in the end.
I think that this movie told many different things to the audience. The first lesson that jumped out at me was that every one is beautiful in his/her own way and that not every one has to look like a model to feel sexy. I think that this was Dave’s biggest challenge because as he said many times “I’m just a fat bastard, no one will want to look at me”. It took until the last few scenes for Dave’s wife to convince him that she thought he was sexy and that she was actually proud of him. I liked that the two were able to have a happy ending! Also I think an important lesson was about self-esteem. The six men’s self-esteem was severely diminished because they felt ashamed and worthless because they were unable to find “decent” work. Gaz was trying to prove to his ex-wife that he was suitable to take care of his son and that he could provide a good home and I think that his son helped him to achieve this. In the final scene Gaz did not want to go out and perform but his son encourages him and he found the self-esteem to perform the full monty!
The movie was great!

Amelie

I thought that the way the story was told was brilliant. The director started with the birth of Amelie and led the audience through her childhood until she was a grown woman (it was told in narrative form). It reminded me of the way a painter builds a masterpiece, starting from the birth of the idea to the brilliant and beautiful picture. The way the movie was told is completely different from other movies that I have seen, I have never watched a movie in which a narrator made comments throughout and I did not really care for it. I did not like that the movie was a subtitled film, in fact I hated it because I focused more on reading than I did on evaluating the scenes that were occurring at the same time. I thought the music was an excellent addition to the movie, for most of the film the music gave off a happy vibe and often made me smile. I also liked all of the bright colors that were shown throughout the movie.
Amelie grew up as a sheltered child because her father thought she had a heart defect so she was homeschooled. One day her and her mother were leaving a building and a suicide victim fell on her mother and she died. I thought that the director could have come up with a better way to film her mother’s death, it was too bizarre.
Amelie was different from most children and grew to be an imaginative young woman. The movie starts with the move to Paris and Amelie’s new job as a waitress at the Windmills café. One day while in her bathroom she discovers a small box with childhood trinkets that was left by the previous owner and decides to find the person it used to belong to. Amelie is soon inspired to change the lives of people around her by helping them. In one part of the movie Amelie helps out a blind man by telling him about everything she is seeing as they go for a walk and cross the street. She also decides to help out her father by stealing his gnome and sending it around the world (which was a dream of her fathers to travel himself). Then Amelie decides that she wants to find love and falls in love with Nino. I liked that the movie was a comedy, drama, and romantic film, (those are my favorite!).
I think that the movie is about life lessons. Every individual has an impact on another whether they realize it or not. A stranger can change your life forever. A smile from a stranger can make someone’s day brighter and happier. Amelie touched lives of many individuals and helped to make their lives happier. The lesson I got from this movie is that everything I do has an impact on other people. I should model my life so that I positively influence the people I care about and those I do not know. If everyone was willing to be nice to each and every individual they crossed on the street than there would be a lot less crime and more love to share. This is kind of why I want to become a nurse so that I can positively influence other people by caring for the sick, helping mothers bring their babies into the world and by counseling patients about their health and psychosocial needs.
Amelie taught me that despite life’s challenges and tragedies there is still good in the world, sometimes you just need to open your eyes to see it. Amelie was refreshing with her childish and imaginative attitude and was fun to watch. Despite all of the things I hated about the movie, I actually enjoyed watching it, although, I don’t think you will find me renting it again.

Hotel Rwanda/Speaker-Imaculee

1.
Prior to last week I knew nothing about the genocides in Rwanda. From the movie I learned about the terrible genocide acts in Rwanda during the Rwandan Civil War. I learned about how nearly 1 million innocent people were slaughtered and a President killed immediately after signing a peace agreement. Hutus killed Tutsis just because of their ethnic background and Hutus who protected Tutsis were also killed.
Imaculee talked about how she hid in a bathroom for 91 days with 6 other women, I wouldn’t want to stand in a bathroom with six women for 91 seconds. Imaculee also talked about how prayer and God helped her make it through the terrible incident. Imaculee shared the story of how her and the other women were almost found and murdered until the soldiers gave up and left the preacher’s house. Imaculee said that the reason they were not found was because of God, her faith is inspiring. What I found to be a miracle was when Imaculee was kneeling with a gun to her head and a soldier recognized her as being his teacher’s daughter. Imaculee was so close to death and at the last minute God once again saved her life.
What I found to be extremely disappointing was when the movie and Imaculee shared that our United States government refused to help out during the genocide. I cannot believe that our government will send soldiers to Iraq for oil but they wouldn’t send soldiers to help stop the Rwandan genocide. It actually maddens me to think that not only did the US refuse but so did France, Belgium, the United Kingdom, and the United Nations. These countries did not move in and help until the genocide was almost over.
Imaculee talked about the horrific events of the genocide but focused on her faith. She said that throughout the genocide God listened to her and answered her prayers. After the genocide was over Imaculee continued to have faith in God and relied on Him to find a job. Imaculee said that she went to the United Nations almost ten times before she gave up and left but, as she walked out a man asked her to come back the next week for a job interview. Imaculee said that God introduced her to this man that would help to change her life forever.
It was nice to hear Imaculee speak about the genocide and see how wise and strong she has become. The movie was nice to watch before she spoke so that I knew the graphic detail of the genocide and had an idea of how the events occurred.

2.
On September 11, 2001, there were terrorist attacks made on the United States by al-Queda. On the same morning I was in a terrible car accident and ended up in the hospital, I had no idea what was going on with the terrorist attacks. I do not remember the first month that I was in the hospital and I didn’t find out about the attack until I was ready to go back to school (3 months later). Most people remember 9/11 and are sad or maybe angry about the lives that were lost, I remember 9/11 and I get sad because I was in so much pain at the time from my injuries and that 3 months of my childhood were taken away from me.
The first time that I heard about the attack was when a news station was talking about it. My parents were so overwhelmed with my condition that they didn’t think to tell me what had happened and my friends had never said anything. At first I changed the channel and told my family and friends I didn’t care to know the details nor did I want to. I guess I figured I had experienced enough pain and didn’t feel I needed to experience more.
Two years ago my significant other rented the movie about 9/11 and I decided to watch it. I was shocked when I saw the pictures and heard the witnesses talk about the experience, at first I didn’t want to believe what I heard or saw. Near the end of the movie I was crying as I watched footage of the plane crashing and the fireman running into the buildings. It was very hard for me to learn about 9/11 by watching the movie but it would not have been any different than learning about it on national television. It was very emotional to have everything thrown at me all at one time, I learned what happened, why it happened, and what the results were all in one setting. The thing I remember the most is watching a little girl crying as a firefighter was holding her by the burning building. I can’t describe how much I feel for those who lost mothers, fathers, grandparents, daughters, sons, and friends, it makes me very sad.
If I would have learned about the event in a different way I think that I may have been able to process the information a little better. I think that I am more sympathetic about the event because of learning about it in a documentary.

3.
I think that a director has a great responsibility to the truth about events that happened such as the Rwanda genocide. I think that when true life events are made into a movie they are dramatized a bit but they need to keep the core events realistic. In the movie “Hotel Rwanda” I think that the director did an excellent job sticking to portraying true events as best as he could. In a movie about real events a director needs to think about how much he/she can dramatize events or change things around because alterations in the truth can cause people (like Imaculee) great pain if they are not portrayed the right way. The director has a responsibility to respect people involved by telling the truth about an event. If a director does not tell the truth about events then people get the wrong idea and assume that it is right. When a director does stretch the truth then the director must state in the opening of the movie that events seen in the movie may not have actually happened but are based on true life events. Sometimes for a director to get a point across he needs to stretch the truth to get a good response out of audience.

Artistic or Visual Design-Jurassic Park

Jurassic Park is an excellent movie that used great set design, colors, costumes, and lighting. The movie was shot on the island of Kauai, which was perfect for the film’s story about having a theme park on a private island. Filming the movie on an actual island made all of the outdoor effects more realistic since they were actually the real outdoors. The movie was put on hold when a hurricane hit the island and later filming resumed. All of the scenes in which it was raining were actually filmed in the pouring rain. The famous kitchen scene, in which dinosaurs attack workers, was filmed with large animations of dinosaur replicas. Most of the Dinosaurs were generated by computer software but in the kitchen scene they were actually molded replicas.
The setting of the film definitely made this film more attractive. Most of the scenes were filmed outside in the wilderness with mother nature’s help. The weather contributed greatly to the film because many scenes needed to be done on rainy days. In the summer, the island of Kauai has plenty of rain and sunshine. Other than the first 30-45 minutes of the movie, scenes take place in the rainy forest, which made everything look so much more exciting and adventurous. The lighting was great, for the outside scenes the sun contributed greatly as “natural light”. It seems to me that from watching the film, a lot of the lighting used in the dark was soft, front lighting.
Lighting can make or break a scene in a movie, example: For a romantic dinner scene, low-key lighting allows the subjects and a few key props to be seen. But if the director used high-key lighting there would be mostly light areas with less contrast and the scene would not look as romantic. Steven Spielberg has mastered lighting concepts and his movies are created beautifully. I think that with Jurassic Park, Spielberg wanted everything to look as real as possible because he was using computer images to recreate dinosaurs. If Spielberg had chosen the wrong location for the film, or used the wrong lighting, the movie may have seemed too fake and would not have been as easy to view.
The art director had to choose appropriate costumes for the actors. The Jurassic Park employees all wore believable uniforms with neutral colors, all guests that came to the island wore warm, bright colors. The difference in contrast between the costumes makes the effect of good vs. bad. Innocent people came to the island to see this large, wonderful theme park and lives were lost as the dinosaurs escaped. The park employees were aware of the dangers and still allowed the park to open. The art director’s use of make-up was excellent, the wounds all looked so real and had details that seemed as if they really were present.
This movie was full of visual and artistic design, Steven Spielberg has evolved and matured into one of the world’s best movie directors. He makes movies that have great plots and makes them better with artistic design.