On Friday, I saw Michael Moore‘s new documentary Sicko.
Michael Moore and I have a long history. Between 2001 and 2004, he was my hero. I’ll never forget seeing Roger & Me for the first time in 2001, in my Government & Economics class. I’m not sure what possessed my libertarian teacher to show it, but for a 17 year old liberal in a conservative town, it was revelatory. After that, I read Stupid White Men. I remember it being a strong indictment, and one of the first comprehensive, mainstream indictments of Bush. It was empowering and infuriating. Coincidentally, in my first semester of college in February 2002, my media literacy class screened The Big One, and I scored the class presentation. Obviously, I loved Bowling for Columbine. Farenheit 9/11 made me cry with rage.
I loved that he wasn’t ashamed of his liberal views. I loved that he didn’t make “bipartisan” concessions. I loved that he didn’t compromise his liberalism with sexism, racism or homophobia. I loved that he didn’t sugarcoat, that he asked real questions, that he didn’t coddle our leaders. I loved that he gave me genuine hope that we could win back the country in 2004, even if that hope resulted in heartbreak. After the 2004 election, I dropped out of following politics for a year or so. It seems that Mike dropped out, too. I stopped thinking about him, though I was devastated when I found out that he actually did interview Roger Smith for Roger & Me. I can’t look at him the same way, knowing that, and though I have a soft spot for Moore in my heart, I’m not the fangirl I once was.
But he’s back. So what about Sicko?
Well, it’s a Michael Moore film. So it’s biased, funny, persuasive and heartbreaking.
There are some differences from his other films, though. In this one, Moore stays mostly behind the camera and allows people to tell their own stories of how they’ve been fucked over by the American health care “system.” They’re tragic. The man who died of cancer after his insurance company refused him proven, “experimental” treatment. The little girl who died because her mother took her to an out-of-network hospital, and the doctors wouldn’t treat her. The uninsured man who, when he cut off two fingers, couldn’t afford to sew them both back on and had to choose which one to keep.
But he also spends at least half of the movie focusing on solutions, and it’s refreshing. Moore supports socialized medicine, which is taxpayer funded and free at the point of care. He examines systems from Canada to England to France and Cuba. It was shocking to see what we’re missing. The British laughed at Moore when he asked them on their way out of the hospital how much their treatment cost. And in England, all prescription medication– including AIDS drugs– costs only roughly $10US. The British and French doctors couldn’t understand the concept of turning a patient away because he or she can’t pay.
Of course, focusing on other specific systems carries its risks. As a result, critics will most likely dig up and trot out some horror stories from patients who received care under socialized medicine. I think that makes a particularly brave move. It’s also a necessary one. The fact is that the Right was going to trot out these examples with the discussion over universal health care anyway. Counter-images of it working effectively are desperately needed and vital to any honest national conversation.
The biggest problem, of course, is Cuba. Moore took several sick patients who were unable to receive care in the US to Cuba, where they received free, high-quality medical attention. It appears genuine, but it’s doubtless that accusations of government control and manipulation will be flung. They’ll say that Castro made the doctors play nice for the camera, and unfortunately there will be no hard and fast way of refuting it, even if the accusations are false. U.S. politicians have a strong history of successfully defaming Cuba. I’m not sure what Moore’s motivation was, here. Controversy? The fact is, he could have taken the patients to Canada, or a host of other countries, for that matter. Why did he have to choose one of the most disregarded and hated countries out there? It undermines the credibility of the movie in the mainstream’s eyes, and presents one hell of an easy target. I just can’t seem to shake it. It seems careless, even arrogant, and it makes me uncomfortable.
But what kind of Michael Moore film is it if you don’t feel discomfort? I enjoyed Sicko all the same, and I recommend it. Go see it; you’ll probably learn something. I sure as hell did. And take your moderate friends along. Because they definitely need to see it before election day, next year.
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I’m interested in this movie, having spent quite some time dealing with the horrors of the health care industrty.
I recently read about someone over at our favorite site who was refused treatment over and over again by OB/GYNs in her are because she didn’t seek care until her 20th week of pregnancy. Her third pregnancy! I guess experienced mothers just aren’t quite bright enough to be allowed to look after themselves and their fetuses for 5 months. But I was so shocked. It seemed so punitive to refuse her care, but she did eventually find someone. I think she said he’s an hour and a half away. Or at least, the hospital where she’ll deliver is.
I just got back from seeing this myself! I, too, had some misgivings about the Cuba decision, but I actually thought it worked well. It made it even more touching to show that our “enemies” would care for people our government wouldn’t, and for me that was effective–but then again I’m not your typical anti-Castro American. Still, my mother (an RN who isn’t particularly political but was keen to see the movie because she agrees that our health care system is an absolute mess) came out of it saying it had changed her perception of Cuba and that the whole Guantanamo connection was a “brilliant one-two punch to the Bush administration.” I’ve gotta agree there.
I need to go see this film. I went to England for my junior year of college, and was amazed when the pharmicist told me I didn’t have to pay for my birth control. Even exchange students are covered by NHS while they’re in the country, and under that system all prescribed birth control is automatically free. It was amazing.
Without insurance back home, I payed $60 a month.
This is at the top of my “must see” list – his target this time being my LEAST favorite industry. I’ve been concerned by the marketing of this film among other things.
And, BTW, I am tagging you for the 8 things meme plaguing the b-sphere. Hope you don’t mind.
i’ve seen sicko as well, and haven’t blogged about it yet because, well, i just didn’t quite know what i want to say. i enjoyed it immensely, though not without misgivings. (the cuba thing made me squirm a little too.) i definitely appreciated the fact that so much of what he said was left to the film’s subjects, which to me is the definite standout point in opposition to his other documentaries. there’s just so much fact here that it’s gonna take some serious mucking to counteract many of his points. THAT BEING SAID: i did take slight issue with the comparisons to other countries and their health systems. while it was eye-opening and necessary to see and understand other socialized operations functioning, it doesn’t take a genius to realize that what works somewhere else will not (necessarily) work here. hopefully, though, viewers will choose to simply take the overriding message that something’s gotta give here. maybe in the meantime i’ll move to france, lol…
After seeing Sicko I felt really sorry for all you Americans out there. Im Irish and over here we have problems with our helathcare, with not enough beds and nurses being underpaid but people never have as hard a time as in America. We have a good socialised healthcare and I think its the only way to run a countries healthcare. But I doubt it would work well in America. The system just couldnt handle it !
The thing about Cuba is that it has some of– if not THE–the best medical schools in all of Latin America. Obviously, there are problems with US relations and media misgivings about Cuba, but we are the only country that has those issue with them. I haven’t seen the movie, so I don’t know how it was all explained, but I thought it was a smart move considering what I’ve learned about Cuba before in my studies.
Might the going to Cuba thing have a little bit to do with drawing attention to the idea that a nation that “America hates” has a better system than we do? We’re supposed to be the land of the free, but a nation that is vilified has better health care than we do?
I don’t think that going to Canada or some other allied nation would have quite the same punch as going to Cuba, but, then, I haven’t seen the movie yet.
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