“Sicko” “Sicko” is a film by documentary film superstar Michael Moore. He is back at it , this time taking a crack at the American Healthcare system, and the tragedy that unfolded by privatizing the Health Insurance Companies. Michael compares and contrasts the American way of doing all things health related, to the rest of the world, bringing to light and laying to rest, many of the misbeleifs. He travels to Canada. France, England, and even to Guantanamo Bay in Cuba! Along the journey Michael unveil’s many American Healthcare horror stories, vividly pointing out the discrepencies between our way. nd “thiers”.
Every other country had a completely lax attitude toward the thought of needing the attention of a doctor, atleast from a financial standpoint. While Moore showed us the lives of people who will never afford to retire, who have lost everything including their homes, and some who have even lost their lives as a result of health problems, as if not being in bad health isn’t enough. This film really puts the “American Way” under the microscope, showing how little we work together and to help one another.HMO’s are like the anti-Robin Hood of the healthcare world, who I believe have driven the price of healthcare to astronomic proportions. Because no one is afraid to charge the big billion dollar corporation an arm and a leg, the big billion dollar corporation doesn’t mind charging us an arm and a leg.
It’s a faceless, shameless, business, there is no sympathy through a medical chart, it’s a lot easier to “Decline” someone who represents little more than a policy number. Michael shows us the true intentions of many politicians and HMO’s from the point-of-view of the individual taxpayer.You will feel motivated to get up and “change” something when this film’s credits roll, guaranteed! I think Michael Moore has done a great job bringing truth to a matter that is laden with propagana. Somehow all of these sterotypes about other countries healthcare systems being less than “up to par” are, just that, stereotypes, with little truth behind them. Michael asks everyone about what they think of the universal system, and what they think of America‘s. He asks Doctors, Patients, HMO employees, Insurance recipients, Nannies, his Canadian relatives, and people from all over the US and Europe.
The most memorable portion of the film for me was the 9/11 victims, who were not injured in the crash but were victims of the volunteer rescue team. All of whom had been denied, dropped, or just not covered at all, by their healthcare providers, or the American system they assumed would “come to the rescue“. These people selflessly risked their lives for days at a time, endangering themselves and witnessing horrific scenes of carnage in Manhattan. All the pollution, wreckage, and debris have in some way or another negatively impacted their health.
What does America do for these American heroes, who have come home wounded from battle? Turned a cold shoulder and forgotten about them, that’s what! Michael Moore is somewhat of an eccentric, who finds great joy in highlighting the flaws of the American hierarchy, and other peoples mistakes. If he wanted to, I’m sure he could too, find many horror stories from these countries with universal healthcare, and even more from Americans who have never run into a problem dealing with their own healthcare endeavors.Also evident is Michael Moore’s way of turning himself into a martyr, although he provokes the need for a change, he never quite makes an attempt at any solution. Anyone can point out problems, especially the most well known, the real martyrdom is attained when change has been inititiated, by your own hand.
“ Any filmmaker, politically outspoken or not, whose work is worth discussing will be argued about. But in Mr. Moore’s case the arguments are more often about him than about the subjects of his movies. He turns himself into a quiet hero, as if he is to thank for offering assistance to these Americans. He is indirectly thank-able I suppose, but I believe the camera paved the way to the free assistance. He undoubtedly “uses his patented carnival storytelling tools to blur advocacy and entertainment” but, I enjoyed the film regardless of its flaws, and those of Michael Moore.
http://www. ew. com/ew/article/0,,20044198,00. html http://movies.
nytimes. com/2007/06/22/movies/22sick. html http://www. time. com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1623337,00. html
