sicko: michael moore’s finest film
Bob Ross“Sicko” says insurance companies care most about their financial health.
Sicko
PG-13; 115 minutes
As a documentary about health care, “Sicko” is more entertaining than it has a right to be. It is also, shall we say, a wee bit slanted.
But there’s more behind Michael Moore’s latest — and, I would argue, finest — film than the not-too-surprising news that giant American corporations place greed above humanity, rigid rules above common sense. “Sicko” has a broader agenda than simply suggesting that no one should be refused medical attention. With heartbreaking case histories, poignant interviews and cheeky stunts, the film forces us to consider a more basic question: What kind of a society are we?
“Sicko” starts with examples of lives shattered by a lack of health insurance. But those folks, Moore tells us (off camera, where he stays for the film’s first half), are only 50 million or so of the U.S. population. The movie, he explains, is more concerned with the other 250 million of us — those who assume they are covered when in fact the biggest insurers are always seeking ways to deny claims. One insurer dares to argue that the company isn’t denying anyone care, just coverage. In other words, if you have the cash, the doctor will see you anyway. Oddly enough, Moore says, the U.S. is the only industrialized with that approach to medicine.
On friendly but occasionally tear-jerking mini-tours of health care facilities in Canada, England, France and Cuba, Moore suggests that we haven’t been given a very complete picture of how those countries operate (no pun intended).
As our working population ages and starts making more doctor visits, the health care industry — including its army of well-connected lobbyists — will come under increasing scrutiny. “Sicko” is a splendid starting point for anyone who wants to be informed on the subject.
Unless you’re an insurance executive or hospital administrator, you’ll find this brisk nonfiction film to be well worth an A.
Find more film reviews and fun at BobRossMovies.com
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June 27th, 2007 at 5:07 pm
Damn Bob. I think I love you.
June 27th, 2007 at 5:52 pm
I think he could have highlighted a point that a lot of people who have seen the film aren’t getting (how well-off the average middle class family is in London or Paris; the point is that these people are in no way suffocated by taxes, but it’s never explicitly stated)…
More of my comments on the film