A "SICKO" REVIEW

Michael Moore's newest opinion film, once again disguised as a documentary, is set to hit the big screen on June 29, 2007. In this film Mike takes a harsh look at the U.S. heath care system and all it's failings. I was lucky enough to have received an early edition, wrapped in brown paper, sent to me anonymously. A special thank you to Mr. X who found a way to get an early release for me. The film was of excellent quality, not the hacked kind you would normally find on the web with shaky filming and "exit signs" on each end. I have to believe it was released on purpose by someone who attended an early review. Heck, maybe Mr. Moore released it himself to create a buzz. At any rate, here's what I thought of Mike's latest effort. As a point of reference for all of you, I'm temporarily moving my two posts "Tax the Rich" and "How they Control You, Part 2" right after this post so you can see what I was talking about and what I think is the best solution to our health care problems.

What Micheal Moore does best, is satirical humor. In "Sicko", Mike shines in the parts where he demonstrates the hypocrisy of our government. In one scene he shows how Americans can go over to Canada and receive heath care for free (provided you pose as the common law wife/husband of a resident) but Canadians fill out forms to extend their coverage into the U.S. so they won't get stuck with a bill. I couldn't help but think how happy the Canadian Government must be that Mike demonstrated for all Americans how to scam their system, but it did point out the difference in how our two countries respond to even a friendly country's citizens. Later in the film Mike goes to the U.K. and then to France and finally even to Cuba, all the time showing us how much better the socialist health care system treats it's citizens. In true Michael Moore style, he uses mostly exampling and not statistics (see my post) to make his point. Some of his examples, particularly the ones involving kids, are very heart-wrenching. At one point I even found myself getting angry at the U.S. government for being so cold-hearted. Some of the more disturbing parts of the film are when Michael interviews two firefighters and a rescue worker from New York who preformed heroically during 9/11. All three were suffering various problems with their health do to their service and found themselves with huge health care bills to pay. The children broke my heart, but it was the firemen and rescue worker that made me the most angry at our system. All and all, I would say Mike did a pretty good job of demonstrating the failings of our system. One scene that I found particularly interesting was an interview with an Insurance Claims Representative. She showed a list of "pre-existing conditions" 36 pages long that the insurance companies would use to either refuse you coverage, or deny your claims. No matter how I personally feel about Michael Moore or his tactics, this was one issue where he is definitely on the right side. As I said in "Tax the Rich", our health care is a disgrace, and an embarrassment to the greatest country on earth. Every day that some child loses his or her life, every day that some decent hardworking American goes into bankruptcy through no fault of their own, we all add to that disgrace. Even though this is a case of the wrong messenger, the message was as true as it could be and on that I give Mr. Moore kudos.

Now for my complaints; (Surely you didn't think I was going to let Mr. Moore off that easy.) In his effort to vilify the American health care system, he neglects to note the good things about our system. Such as our Research and Development, quality of service, or access to the newest drugs and equipment. Mike then stumbles over himself to praise Socialized Medicine. He goes to Canada to see how Canadians like their health care system, and amazingly, can't find a single complaint anywhere. No one having any complaints about a branch of Government is a physical impossibility. The real odd thing is, they all just continue badmouthing the American system and not mentioning the downfalls of their system at all. It's as if Mike never even asked them if their system had any drawbacks. Hmmmmm.

Next stop;U.K.. Where again Mike can't seem to find anyone who has any complaints about their health care system. You know, I'm beginning to think he cut those parts out.

Then to my favorite segment; France. Again Michael forgets to ask them if there's any problems with their system. Again everyone loves every aspect of their health care. Oddly, Mr.Moore didn't go down to the Muslim section and ask them how they liked the system. Then, the greatest irony strikes me. He's gushing about a system (France's) that has just committed the worst health care disaster in the history of man. During a heat wave in the summer of 2003, 14,802 mostly elderly and government-cared-for people died from heat exhaustion, because the nation's health care workers that were supposed to be taking care of them were on a state sponsored vacation. Once again people die waiting for the government to save them. And yet, Mike neglects to mention it. It seemed to me to be a bit like praising FEMA and forgetting to mention Katrina.

Last Stop; Cuba, home of beautiful beaches, Gitmo, and Fidel Castro. You may remember Fidel from the 60's when he wanted to bring in nuclear weapons and point them at Miami. If I didn't know better, I'd swear it looked like ol' Fidel and Michael struck up a deal. You show my country in a positive light, and I let you have all the footage you need. Oh, and I'll even help your Firemen friends. Maybe I'm just being too suspicious. It did make you laugh a little though when Mike is demanding that the soldiers at Gitmo give his friends the same medical treatment that Al-qaeda gets. Once again Mike shows the genius of his satirical side.

All in all, I'd give this movie 3 Peace Signs out of 5. (No I'm not going to start doing movie reviews.) I found a lot of it interesting and even informative. The rumors that Mike was going to be less partisan turned out to be far from true and a few minutes of him gushing over Hilary Clinton might be hard for some Conservatives to stomach. The thing that works in Michael Moore's favor here is; no matter what his methods, in the end he's right. Our heath care IS a mess. If this movie is a vehicle for more people to stop thinking about Paris Hilton and start thinking about our failing health care delivery system, then I guess more power to you Mike, I just hope the message doesn't get lost behind the messenger....again. H.C.