This is the first Michael Moore film I have seen and I don't know much about his filmmaking background, his style or his topics. Based from reviews and Internet information though, he is a sort of a film activist, whose favorite topic is mostly criticizing his homeland, America. He is also behind the controversial Fahrenheit 9/11, a film that looks into Bush administration's lack of appropriate action with the terrorist attack in the US five years ago.
Moore is back with another hard-hitting, extremely emotional and downright sarcastic movie, which of course, targets his beloved homeland, this time, nailing down on United State's health insurance system and its rotting industry. Sicko was released in the US in July 2007 and was nominated for several Oscar Awards 2008 for Best Documentary Film.
In the documentary film Sicko, Michael Moore presented a clear, rather pathetic condition of middle-class Americans, who have health care insurance and who were led to believe that they are actually well covered during time of illness. During the first 45 minutes of the film, Moore presented a handful of cases where citizens had been neglected, restricted and totally denied of health care coverage by their insurance companies, mostly because of pre-existing conditions, experimental, not life-threatening etc. In this part of the film, Moore persuades you to become emotional, angry to the point of wholly loathing America, its legislator, the current resident of the White House, George Bush and even the one woman, Hillary Clinton who tried to stand against the corruption in the health care industry.
Moore successfully injected drama in Sicko, completely manipulating human emotion of pity, anger and sympathy with the presentation of testimonials (teary-eyed in almost every confession) of people within the health care industry who can't swallow the system but are helpless since they are on these large companies' payroll, first hand cases of people who lost their loved ones because of lopsided and inhumane policy of hospitals and their affiliated insurance companies. The video inserts of presidents, legislators and key personalities who are directly related to health care in America as well as the statistics and first hand accounts give the film the credential it is aiming, which in turn made the film even more influential to viewers.
Sicko drove the point home when its director decided to take a trip around Europe, Canada and Cuba, where Moored exaggeratingly compared it with America's health care. First, he accompanied an American woman who can't get treatment for her cancer, to Canada while getting free care illegally from a Canadian hospital. Worse than encouraging this illegal activity of falsifying information, Moore convicted the act by saying, “Yes it is considered illegal, but we are Americans”. Encouraging unlawful actions didn't go well with the goal of the film to enlighten Americans and suggesting a rational solution to the problem.
After filming the offense in Canada, Moore found his universal healthcare paradise when he went to the United Kingdom and France. From a hardcore activist, Moore turned into an ecstatic child discovering a gift from Santa Clause on Christmas midnight, when he sat down with a group of Americans who get completely free healthcare, education and a part-time nanny in France and the patients of National Health Service (NHS) from Britain who were even given pounds for the trip home after they got free health service. During this second part of Sicko, the sarcasm against the American government became more apparent and intense.
Moore's interview with an English doctor and French citizen, showing their obviously comfortable lifestyle (worrying about fish, vegetables, holidays, riding a Audi and owning a million dollar house), is totally out of context. The film was not able to establish that these people were not in the level of those people he was comparing with in America. Of course, the topic was health care and in these countries, they are getting it for free. Although Moore said, “they were drowning in taxes” the film wasn't able to establish how high these taxes are, and how the middle class English or French are actually living. The film was so absorbed in narrating the “good life” in these countries that it fails to present a more realistic part of the story, thus making the film.
In Europe, almost half of the salary goes to the government in the form of taxes, so it is justified that they get these services for free. Most middle-class citizens don't go on Holidays as often as Moore projected in the film, most people don't get a million dollar house or own two cars. Fact is, it is actually the hardworking citizens, who pay their taxes duly and expensively, who pay for the free healthcare of those who are unemployed, abusive of their health, poor or just lazy. But of course, this is where one's goodness comes in. Let's disregard the lazy and abusive, and focus more on the poor, disabled and old. They were the ones who are in need most of all, and in these countries, the government sees through it that this act of kindness is utilized.
Despite this one-sidedness, the fact that America's healthcare system is rotting compared to these countries had been very well ingrained in the film.
And finally, he went to Cuba, supposedly to bring the three 9/11 rescuers to the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, a military complex where terrorists get “universal healthcare”. Moored tried to get the same service for these rescuers but instead got a patrol siren. Hopeless, they decided to check the Havana hospital and there, they got a superstar treatment. In a certain way, Sicko has manipulated the viewers in believing that an ideal healthcare system exists in a country that is considered evil and an enemy by the American government. Again, he successfully insulted his homeland by his detailed comparison. And again, he failed to cite the real score with the average Cuban.
Verdict:
Sicko has all the elements of a good Hollywood drama flick, pity, fear, anger, sympathy and hope. It will definitely make you cry. Although Moore made evident sensationalism in the film, it is still an enlightening and plausible piece of work, well researched and factual. It will open your eyes on the almost immoral healthcare system that has been going on for decades in America. Despite its lapses in presenting balance in the film, Moore posed some significant points to the American people (or more on the American government) to become more concerned about each rather than focusing on themselves, and working together to achieve better healthcare in America or in any part of the globe.
Sicko is definitely worth seeing, even for the message of camaraderie and universal brotherhood that it has effectively established.
Healthcare should be available to all, whether you have private or government insurance. Its main goal is to help people live longer and not find ways for them to die.
