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Reviews
12:01 (1993)
A movie I re-found after 15 years
There are many reviews telling you everything that is good (or bad) about this movie. All I want to say is that I first see this movie more than 15 years ago. Since that moment, periodically I wanted to see it again but in the meantime I forgot its name. I finally found it and bought the DVD. The main reason I wanted to see it again was that this was in my opinion the funniest comedy I ever saw but not only. Although I like very much Groundhog Day movie, they are 2 completely different movies. I would strongly recommend to anyone to see this movie and as many said, you may realize that this movie will stay in your mind for a long time without realizing exactly why.
Sicko (2007)
Very well done but completely biased
Obviously this movie was very well done in order to achieve its goal. However, would someone care if the facts are true? I cannot say how good or bad the US health care system is even if I have lots of friends living in US and some of them being doctors and what I know from them is far from being as things are depicted in this movie. But I know very well how things are in Canada and a pretty good idea how they are in Cuba and I have to say that regarding these 2 countries Moore completely mystified the reality. In Canada things might be OK as long as you don't need to go to Emergency or you don't suffer of cancer or other life threatening illnesses. For instance if you go to Emergency over night (to a large hospital in Toronto) you have best chances not to see any doctor until morning comes. Even if you are during the day, it will take a minimum of 2 hours to see someone (who will assess if it is an emergency or not). If you are suspected by cancer or something else and need an MRI or CAT scan you will have to wait at least 3-4 months to do one. If you need appointment with a specialist you need to wait for months too. For cancer surgery you have to wait even longer. For cancer suspected patients, summing-up all these waiting times it would take up to 2 years until they will go for surgery but the problem is that within this time they may die or their cancer becomes inoperable. Even if you want to pay for these procedures you cannot do it. So many such patients who can afford it, chose to go to US where they pay and do the tests within the same day (i.e. why I did not appreciate at all the "joke" with the US cancer patient coming to Canada to cure her disease). Regarding Cuban health care system, as one who leaved in a Communist country all I can say is that is laughable at best. First of all you cannot make a movie in a Communist country without being authorized and you can film only approved places. What they filmed was for sure the clinic dedicated to Cuban Nomenklatura. All other hospitals, for ordinary people are like this: you need to find and bring your own drugs, food and you have to tip doctors and nurses. Even if you do this, you will not be able to bring the equipment they miss. I would never wish someone to end-up in a Cuban ordinary hospital - I guarantee it will be a nightmare. However, I don't deny they don't have good doctors the problem is that a good doctor without proper equipment and drugs is powerless. Why should I really believe what he said about the other country health systems if in these 2 cases he was just lying? So this is a good movie as long as you realize is a fantasy. But if it is a science-fiction movie, can it still be called documentary?
California Dreamin' (Nesfarsit) (2007)
A certain masterpiece
All of us, when tired, look for an easy and full of fun or action movie in a Hollywood style. However, once in a while, sooner rather than later, is not bad watching a movie that makes us use a little our brain in conjunction with our emotions. California Dreamin' is such a movie. First of all, you must take into account that this movie was not post-processed almost at all due to the tragically death of its director. It is useless to think how it would have been looked if it was finished by Nemescu. We have to look at it as it is. Even like this, movie was brilliantly directed making me remember of Antonioni's Blow-Out. Lots of people would not like it because it shows too much poverty or does not show all aspects of Balkan's life or just because is not a Hollywood movie. Let's be straight, no movie gives you a panorama about a region's life, for this you should watch News or read magazines. Movies give you a vision built by a group of people starting with the screenwriter and ending with its director. You may agree with it or not but this is not important. Important is if after a while it makes you think and if it does the movie was not useless. Others didn't like the movie being ambiguous but they forget that this is an art movie which is not giving you solutions, but based on presented facts you have to find the answers by yourself and no wonder if each person will find different conclusions because after all we are different from each other. Or this is the greatest merit of this movie: makes you think about a lot of things among which why life is so hard when can be easier. Obviously this movie was a hard option for Nemescu but eventually because of this option it is his postmortem triumph. In the end, this movie is not an image of Balkans but an image which can be applied to 80% of this world. The feelings and emotions included in it can be applied to 100% of this world. It is tragic Nemescu died after his first movie, but it is fortunate he left as legacy such a movie rather than a regular "big hit".