{"id":8798,"date":"2010-03-16T14:43:50","date_gmt":"2010-03-16T22:43:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/?p=8798"},"modified":"2010-03-16T14:50:39","modified_gmt":"2010-03-16T22:50:39","slug":"sicko-michael-moore-2007-usa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/?p=8798","title":{"rendered":"Sicko (Michael Moore, 2007): USA"},"content":{"rendered":"

Reviewed by Richard Feilden<\/a>. \u00a0Viewed on DVD.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>I have a reputation for keeping Chinese take-out food out of harm\u2019s way.\u00a0 I\u2019ve brought chicken chow mein home safe through wind, rain, an attempted mugging and, when back in the UK a few years ago, a friend\u2019s full blown epileptic fit.\u00a0 While I stopped him from either injuring himself or hurling noodles around the room, his girlfriend called an ambulance.\u00a0 When my American partner panicked about the expense, we looked at her as though she was mad.\u00a0 The idea of worrying about paying for healthcare seems crazy to anyone who lives in a country with socialized medicine.\u00a0 You\u2019ll see that look a lot during Michael Moore\u2019s heartrending documentary Sicko<\/a><\/em>, sometimes from the people Moore interviews, and sometimes from the audience.<\/p>\n

There could not be a more appropriate time for Americans to revisit Moore\u2019s exploration of the US healthcare system, with debate currently raging over the healthcare\u00a0bill. Moore attempts to put a face on the suffering caused when the system fails those who have brought into it.\u00a0 Using his usual blend of voice over narration, interviews and grandstanding, Moore hopes to expose the dark secret of American medicine, that even if you have health insurance, illness can bring financial ruin.\u00a0 As usual, his film is generally successful and, as usual, there are a string of caveats.<\/p>\n

Moore attacks the heath care industry from a variety of directions.\u00a0 On one front he has the victims.\u00a0 Some, denied potentially life-saving treatments, speak from beyond the grave on home videos, while he follows others as they battle against the financial pressures of co-payments and funding refusals.\u00a0 Then he brings out ex-employees of the healthcare industry who bring tales of unscrupulous investigations designed to recover costs, or plans to deny coverage to those who might actually need to use their insurance.\u00a0 Finally he launches an assault from abroad, with the smiling faces and quizzical stares of those who have been nurtured in the bosom of socialized healthcare.\u00a0 It\u2019s a very successful battle plan.\u00a0 It is impossible not to be moved by a woman whose husband was denied treatment that might have saved his life, nor to marvel at the foreign health workers who giggle at the idea of actually charging<\/em> someone for a stay in hospital.\u00a0 How can an audience not believe a message when it is backed up by home video of people who have died, unnecessarily, before their time?\u00a0 It is all so real!<\/p>\n

Less Moore Could Cure Sicko<\/strong><\/p>\n

That is when those exceptions begin to mount up.\u00a0 As mentioned in my review of Papers, a documentary which presents only one side of a story leaves itself open to attack.\u00a0 Where are the interviews with the executives of the HMOs that Moore is rallying against, or at least evidence that they were offered a chance to speak?\u00a0 Why we are not told why Moore\u2019s industry insiders left the employment of the healthcare providers?\u00a0 Could Moore really not find a single person in France, Canada or the UK who wanted to tell a tale of woe regarding the care they had received? \u00a0While Moore has certainly set out to make a point, he does himself an injustice by not giving more time to his opposition.\u00a0 Let them defend their decisions.\u00a0 Let them explain why they denied care to people who died.\u00a0 Give them the rope and let them orchestrate their own public executions.\u00a0 Only by being challenged can Moore hope to convince those who disagree with him.\u00a0 At least this time his closing stunt, taking 9\/11 rescue workers to Cuba for treatment, simply comes off as posturing and showmanship, rather than the stomach churning \u2018interview\u2019 with the obviously ill Charlton Heston that ended Bowling for Columbine<\/em>.\u00a0 That it does not damage the film too badly is the best I can say for it.\u00a0 Yet I am left with the distinct impression that the five-star care that the Cuban authorities gave to them was at least in part put on for the cameras.\u00a0 It all just seems a little too good to be true.<\/p>\n

While I agree with Moore\u2019s sentiments, I just wish that he would at least offer up a pretense of balance in his work. \u00a0If he really wants to make a difference he has to convince people who disagree with him, not the already converted.\u00a0\u00a0 As it is, I fear that Sicko doesn\u2019t reach far enough into the opposition\u2019s territory to make a difference.\u00a0 Of course, if I become seriously ill I\u2019ll be on the first plane back to Blighty, happy that my health is as safe in the hands of the National Health Service as a portion of egg-fried rice is in mine.\u00a0 At least I have that option.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Reviewed by Richard Feilden. \u00a0Viewed on DVD. I have a reputation for keeping Chinese take-out food out of harm\u2019s way.\u00a0 I\u2019ve brought chicken chow mein home safe through wind, rain, an attempted mugging and, when back in the UK a few years ago, a friend\u2019s full blown epileptic fit.\u00a0 While I stopped him from either […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[67],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8798","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dvd"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8798","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8798"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8798\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8798"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8798"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8798"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}