Yet again, Michael Moore delivers. Friday night Jen and I joined Tom and Anne for Sicko, Moore’s latest film about the shoddy state of the health care industry in the U.S.
The San Francisco Chronicle review of the film (my usual source for trusted reviews) gave it the standing, clapping man, its best review. The brief review summary best sums up Sicko: It “attempts to do two things: to convince Americans that our current system is corrupt and scandalous and immoral; and to make the case for a European style single-payer system.”
Quite simply, I think it achieved both objectives. The film did leave me teary-eyed more than once. I thought the focusing on the human stories — the people who have insurance in the U.S. who think they’re covered — was a powerful approach. Though some may argue that it didn’t dig deep enough in terms of hard facts, I think it met its goal to raise awareness and to get people talking about the issues.
And if you haven’t already seen Moore’s appearance on CNN this week with Wolf Blitzer, it’s worth a watch. It’s great to see Moore go head to head with mainstream media — and leave Blitzer nearly speechless. Here it is for your viewing pleasure:
Love him or hate him, Michael Moore gets people talking, and that’s what’s important — and what will hopefully lead to change.
1 response so far ↓
1 jen a. // Jul 12, 2007 at 9:38 am
SiCKO was an excellent film but it has some issues. Moore lost me at the end when he took a boatload of sick people to Cuba for treatment and serious warm fuzzies all around. Unfortunately, that portion undercuts the power of the rest of the film. Yes, Cuba provides top notch care for their people– but I could barely stay in my seat watching Moore (of all people) sing that country’s praises. No mention of what happens to people as outspoken as Moore in that country….