Michael Moore has gotten a lot of grumbles from critics in the past, but his latest documentary on the ailing U.S. healthcare system, SiCKO is an exception to his truth-bending past. Whereas a film like Fahrenheit 9/11 played out more like a personal vendetta against President Bush, SiCKO is a lot less vindictive, and whole lot more substantial, and most importantly, relevant. The profiles of U.S. citizens who were forced to pay thousands of dollars for emergency healthcare juxtaposed against those in Canada, Britain and France who pay not a single cent out of pocket, indeed brought the audience I was with to frequent cheers, applause, gasps, and by the end, plenty of tears. The thesis of his film is centered on one question: How could the richest nation in the world have one of the poorest healthcare systems?
The short answer is capitalism. Healthcare companies make buckets of cash in the business, and because the unhealthy are a risk to company profits they don't qualify for coverage. What makes Moore's film so compelling is that the issue he dissects is one that effects everyone rather personally: we all need to go to the doctor, and we all deserve to be cared for in an equal way, despite our class or social status.
Personally, I find this the most satisfying and inspiring of Moore's films, partially because he is absent for most of the first half, letting the film's characters reveal their stories a little less forcefully. This was also his funniest film to date, highlighted by his Canadian aunt and uncle's trip to buy traveler’s health insurance before they cross the nearby border in Michigan, and finally, his trip to Guantanamo Bay with disease-stricken 9/11 rescue workers. The latter also shows us the most touching stories of the film, in particular, a woman who pays hundreds of dollars for a medical inhaler in the U.S. pays nickels for the same product in Cuba.
That woman lost her job after 9/11, is on disability, and pays 20% of her monthly income on only one of her medications. It's a supreme injustice, and Moore tells it sympathetically without alienating the audience with political diatribes (perhaps he got most of that out of his system in Fahrenheit 9/11.) And that's the best part of his film, that after years of ranting and venting about the state of U.S. politics he's ready to make change. Leaving the film, there was a genuine sense of productivity. I got the sense that we all knew too much to settle for how things are now. It's no coincidence that healthcare reform is one of the leading issues up for debate in next year's presidential election. Whoever wins the office, Democrat or Republican, it seems unavoidable that healthcare will be near the top of their administration's agenda.
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