Rating: 3.5 Pulses
Starring: Michael Moore, George W. Bush, William Maher
Directed by Michael Moore
Rated PG-13
In Sicko, polemist Michael Moore dissects perhaps his most amorphous subject yet: the health-care industry.
Why, he ponders, does the U.S. spend the most on health care of any other industrialized nation, yet rank a lowly 37th in the world? Why are pharmaceutical and insurance companies experiencing record earnings while 50- million Americans can’t afford coverage?
The success of Fahrenheit 9/11 has robbed Moore of his anonymity so instead of banging on doors in Sicko, he lets suffering Americans come to him. He contrasts their grief with the splendor of universal health care in Canada, France and England.
It all builds to the film’s grandest, yet filmiest, stunt. Moore attempts to get 9/11 victims coverage in Guantanamo Bay, where it has been reported prisoners receive premium treatment. He is refused, but finds a suitable replacement in the hospitals of Havana.
Don’t let Moore’s blunt argument fool you. Socializing health care and living under communist rule in Cuba are two vastly different concepts.
A more effective feat accomplished in Sicko is showing less of Moore. Especially in the riveting first hour, Moore is barely audible and rarely visible. Unlike in some of his works, he allows the victims to speak for themselves. Their outrage is contagious.
It’s an effective tool for a figure as polarizing as Moore. His very presence invokes hatred from many, but even his top ideological enemies would be hard-pressed not to sympathize with Americans falling into the ever-widening cracks of our health-care system.
Moore rightfully points out the U.S. has already socialized the post office, schools, etc. Yet, questions persist. What are the stipulations to the utopistic health care portrayed in other Western countries? What are the costs, both economically and socially?
Sicko aims to get the ball rolling on an impending crisis, and Moore does that quite effectively through his unique blend of insightful and occasionally hilarious commentary. Blue or red, rich or poor, it is essential viewing.
