Susan Granger’s review of “Sicko” (Lionsgate & The Weinstein Company)
Why do we go to the movies? To be entertained and to be informed. Movies can capture America’s ethical or moral values of the moment, and movies can make us question who we are as individuals and what we are as a society.
That’s what docu-dramatist Michael Moore does – with “Roger & Me,” “Bowling for Columbine” and “Fahrenheit 9/11.” Now he’s taken aim at our corrupt health-care system, showing – albeit anecdotally – how the insurance industry and pharmaceutical companies have ‘bought’ Congress so they can continue to dictate governmental decisions about health care. It’s an incontrovertible indictment.
According to the World Health Organization, the United States is ranked 37th, far behind Canada, England, France and Cuba. These nations manage to care for their citizens at little or no cost to the individual patient. Taxes pay the medical bills – for everyone.
Michael Moore’s cinematic style is manipulative, often confrontational and brutally comic. Granted, his unsubtle irony is simplistic and his “hospital” vignettes are staged; they’d have to be. Perhaps the drugs an American patient buys in Havana for five cents, as opposed to $120 at home, are not FDA approved. And Moore’s voyeuristic visit to Guantanamo with 9/11 rescue workers is obviously a stunt. But the evidence of American profiteering is overwhelming.
Moore poses the question: why do we gratefully accept the aid of our police and fire departments – which are government funded – yet become alarmed at the concept of “socialized medicine”? Isn’t taking care of ourselves the essence of “democracy”?
On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Sicko” is a sensational 10. It’s not a perfect movie but it will make you think – and the conversations you’ll have afterwards are worth far more than the price of admission.
