Escape Fire: The Fight to Rescue American Healthcare (2012) Reviews

• Important and Compelling Documentary, Neither Political nor Preachy

  ChetXBuck2012-10-24

  An interesting and compelling documentary about the state of healthcare in our country. This fast-paced and well-crafted film helps explain how the incentives in our system have derailed healthcare to become "disease-care." It also shows a few very personal stories about the importance of focusing on true "health care" and not medications or quick fixes. It's a smart film that is neither preachy nor political. Unlike so many documentaries by film makers like Michael Moore, this film presents expert information and real-life stories without injecting partisan messages. The focus of the film is to be informative, but not to hang political messages on the facts. The pace if the film is crisp and the pace keeps you engaged. This is an important film for anyone who is curious about the healthcare industry and it should be watched by anyone in the healthcare industry, policy-making or political office.

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• Escape fire shines a light on powerful dark matter of medicine.

  jjunebrown2012-10-08

  As a person working in health care education, I think Escape Fire, the documentary film, shines a strong steady light on the powerful dark matter of medicine. Personal stories of patients seeking care are interwoven with expert commentary from heads of government, insurance companies, doctors and journalists. While the call that US health care is broken seems old, the stories shown here are shocking and new. They uncover why it is broken and how it can heal. The stress points that are breaking seem to be about focusing on sick-care instead of health care. A heart surgeon exposes what he names "perverse economic incentives" that reward doctors for doing procedures, instead of rewarding them when patients become healthier. A former head of a health insurance company visits a US remote areal medical service - where people come from miles around to line up for free care in sheds and tents - and he has a crisis of conscience. A doctor shows research evidence that reducing stress reverses heart disease, and then forms teams of physicians, psychologists, nutritionists and yoga instructors to help patients heal. One patient in the ER for heart disease talks to the doctor about when he'll change to a heart health diet. For him, it will be when he knows what's wrong with him. Education about what causes leading chronic health problems is missing from our schools. And the movie Escape Fire points out that preventative care and nutrition education are also lacking in most doctors' educations too. This new movie is not all gloom and doom, far from it. With a focus on healthy living, healthy foods, keeping active and reducing stress with yoga and meditation, the film makers give us a great big dose of hope. One patient portrait is of a veteran, Sgt Yates, who served in Afghanistan and returned with PTSD and back injuries, unable to walk. He is transformed and says, "I'm not changed, but I'm changing". This movie made me want to change too, and take more responsibility for my own health. We needed health care reform, now we need a health care revolution, with each patient being part of the change.

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• Escape Fire

  andy-385-3461562012-06-01

  Unlike the bombastic, grenade throwing of Michael Moore's films, Matthew Heineman and Susan Froemke have managed to create a thought provoking and even-handed look at the very complex subject of the American health care system. Instead of yelling or lecturing us, the balanced tone of this film draws you in and immerses you in the subject matter to better understand the scope of the problems, and the solutions. Some of the answers the film unveils are so simple and obvious that they will give you an OMG / aha! moment. ESCAPE FIRE is a quiet and low key film that is truly capable of provoking big changes in our health care system

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• Nothing new

  caeevans2012-06-09

  I think this film will work well in the high school system, but for those who already have a good knowledge of the problems in the US health-care system, they won't learn anything new. The film is short on facts and figures, which was disappointing for me, though for those who like to emotionally connect to a film, they will no doubt enjoy. Also, there were no real solutions offered in the film, which was an obvious frustration of the audience that I was a part of. Overall, good as an introduction to some of the problems in the US health-care system and if you prefer a narrative over facts and figures.

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• Great, but why ... ?? (not really a spoiler but I'm being careful)

  louhoebel2013-12-19

  As one 'professional' critic wrote: "This is a statistics rich documentary that uses numbers and talking head interviews to tell us something that is plain common sense. " Well, if it is such common sense then why is it so eye-opening and why is the US drowning in pills and excessive costs? We appear to need more than common sense to make the common sense changes in the 2.7 Trillion Dollar US disease treatment industry. It is not a call for single payer or national health-care, it is a call of responsible action. This documentary is both educational and emotional it shows, in a very accessible manner, why we are in this mess (from Earl Butz to reimbursement policy) and what we can do within the current system and to change the current system. Much of the focus is on individual choice (by doctors, by patients, by organizations . Well done and beautifully presented. Watch it. Weep. Make changes. Feel better.

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