This was a great film and definitely worth watching. I was required to watch it for a college class on the health care system and then write a short review for it. Half the class had to write positive reviews, and the other half (my half) had to write negative reviews. Personally, I had mixed feelings about the film. You could earn a PhD in the field of public health and only scratch the surface. Most of the issues come down to politics and there really aren't any right answers, just wrong ones. Moore's film was a little too biased for me. Nevertheless, it was factually correct, I learned a lot from it, and would recommend it to anyone.
Here's my review:
Movie Review: ‘Sicko’
The American health care system has many opportunities for improvement. In other words, sometimes it sucks. Michael Moore would probably agree with that last sentence. In his new documentary Sicko, he investigates (to use the term loosely) our health care system and compares it to other health care systems around the world. He portrays the American health care system as overly bureaucratic and full of dangerous and unfair policies that are motivated by avarice. His largely micro level, sensationalized, and anecdotal evidence deserves reproach if he is going to call himself a legitimate documentary filmmaker. On the other hand, if he wanted to call himself a propagandist, then Sicko proves he is a true virtuoso of that art. But as any good propagandist knows, you cannot fool all of the people, all the time. And this film certainly did not fool me.
Moore’s argument was more like an illusion, and therein is the problem. He never gave any real perspective. Anyone can gather bits and pieces of evidence to support any claim. But perspective is the only genuine measure of truth. He provides us with testimonials from people who have experienced horrifying injustices related to our health care system. When the time comes to legitimate his argument with all of those boring details that provide perspective, he changes topics. When the time comes to interview an expert in the field of health care, he fails miserably. He contrasts our health care with other socialized European health care systems. And to say his analysis is slanted would be like calling an ocean moist. For example, he contrasts the French health care and our health care without mentioning France consists of about one fifth of our population and with a much different demographic.
In another part of the film, he interviews some low level health care insurance workers and shows a short clip of a doctor testifying in front of Congress. He even gets one of the workers to cry in front of the camera. Conveniently, he fails to mention that without a system of checks and balances, the health insurance companies would go broke tomorrow. After all, if everyone were able to take out whatever they wanted, the health care business would not exist. But of course, Moore does not even touch upon economic consequences of any kind. Economics does not seem to exist in the socialized utopia he dreams about. One way or the other, everything has to be paid for by someone. And this is an inescapable fact that he completely ignores.
Later in the film, he uses a stunt at the United States Naval facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba to contrast health care suspected terrorists are receiving with our health care in the U.S. If he wants to blame anyone for this disparity, he should look to his liberal buddies in our media. He goes on to take some 9-11 rescue workers to Cuba to receive topnotch free health care. I am sure this was not staged. We have all learned to revere Castro for his honesty and to trust his regime. I am being sarcastic of course, but sometimes you must fight fire with fire. Or in this case, ridiculousness with ridiculousness.
Moore ends his film with the notion that we should think in terms of “we” and not “I.” But, is the U.S. as selfish as Moore portrays it to be? We adhere to a fairly strict capitalistic economy that currently makes us the richest country in the world. In return, we graciously do our own laundry, make our own dinner, and sacrifice the optimal health care of some of our citizenry. In sum, we compromise and sacrifice to ensure our economy provides us with enough money to afford the big stick needed to protect the rest of the world. We do this so countries like France can live under our blanket of protection and not have to worry about being invaded and easily overwhelmed. We also provide more money in economic aid to the world than any other country.
Yes heaven help us yanks with no big warm loving government to help look after us and protect us from ourselves. Everyone konws that governments are ALWAYS looking out solely for citizens...and politicians truly do care about thier constitutants. I truly wish ours were more powerful.
