Sicko is a documentary film made by Micheal Moore. It isn’t about how many Americans don’t have health care insurance, but is actually about the suffering of Americans that do have health care insurance. The style is set up in an informal setting. He interviews or follows his subjects in the comfort of their own homes, places, of business or anywhere that is comfortable for him. After a few examples of the injustice of our system Micheal heads to Canada where their health care is free. Everyone in Canada can go to a hospital or physician and the government takes care of it. On a whim, he immediately heads to London, England and has a similar experience. The rest of the film carries on in this fashion. Let me start off by saying I abhor Micheal Moore. I have no tolerance for him or his rhetoric. I have despised every film or documentary he has made up to this point. That in mind, I think every American should sit down and watch Sicko. In this instance, I still absolutely believe he is manipulating whatever content he can to be contorted to suit his own personal agenda. But to me, it doesn’t matter if Moore edited his interview subjects to make his argument sound better because all of us Americans know how bad our health care system is. I am sure each and every one of us knows someone who has suffered from it greatly or perhaps even ourselves. Most importantly, Moore makes his subjects answer a question so many Americans ask about countries with free health care. Isn’t their care lesser than ours? No, the hospitals and physicians offices were clean nice, and if I hadn’t know any better were in fact American facilities. The part of the film that lacks, is Moore himself asking sarcastic questions, such as the Canadian golfer if he was a socialist because he used free health care. If your audience is smart enough Moore, they don’t need your prodding or sarcasm to understand. The work and testimonies should speak for themselves. Other than the occasional unnecessary Moore comment the film served a purpose. It asked questions that most Americans don’t ask themselves unless the topic is thrown in their faces. And at it’s best hopefully it got people to think, regardless of how the subjects were portrayed in the film itself. And if it got people thinking and asking questions about such an important topic, then it’s doing something worthwhile. Sicko gets two out of four stars.
