Let me start off by saying that I’m not really a big fan of Michael Moore. His documentary style is about as fair and balanced as Bill O’Reilly, but at least what he’s saying is more or less for the good of the people.
That being said, his new film “Sicko” is absolutely incredible. When I first heard he was doing a movie about health care, I thought, “Who gives a crap?” Sure, I hear about it all the time, but does it really matter? Aren’t there more important things he could be concentrating on? Thing I could be concentrating on? But now that I’ve had the chance to see it, I can say without a doubt it is probably the most important movie anyone should see this year. Yes, even more important than “Knocked Up”.
“Sicko” takes a look at how health care works in the US. We pay lots and lots of money to companies who make lots and lots of money, and make even more money when they don’t have to spend anything to treat us. It makes sense… it’s just business, right? The less you spend, the more you make. Plain and simple.
But what Moore’s film does, more importantly than pointing out how things work here, is pointing out how things work in some other small, insignificant countries like, oh, Canada… France… England… Cuba! Universal healthcare allows anyone to go to a hospital or pharmacy and get treatment for near nothing. In the film, an American man had a shop accident, and chopped off the tips of two of his fingers. At the hospital, he had to choose which fingertips he could afford to have put back on. In the UK, a man had sliced off all 5 fingers on one hand, and the procedure to reattach them all cost him nothing. God bless America.
The film goes around the globe to point out how America is the only nation left in the western world that doesn’t provide Universal Healthcare, and it does a good job of pointing out why. I think one of the most insightful quotes in the movie comes from a former member of British Parliament: “An educated, healthy, and confident nation is harder to govern, and I think there’s an element in the thinking in some people, we don’t want people to be healthy, educated, and confident, because they might get out of control.”
Moore’s latest might not be objective or balanced, but then again, is any of the news we hear or read balanced either? I can’t fault him for using the same tactics that the government and the media use to provide us with what they want us to know… it’s obviously what works. The release of “Sicko” right before an election year is a fantastic move on Moore’s part, and I hope the film does enough to spark a dialogue (aside from “he’s a commie pinko bastard!”) to do a whole lot of good come November 2008.
More on Sicko here.
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