Sicko

Sicko ***1/2

Directed by Michael Moore
Written by Michael Moore

Michael Moore as Himself

125 Minutes(PG-13 for brief strong language).
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Michael Moore has always been the controversial figure in the public eye, and every three years or so when one of his movies is about to come out he causes a little bit of a stir. Now I discovered Moore in 2002, when his 2001 film "Bowling for Columbine" was still in theatres everywhere after his little stunt at the Oscars ("We will not support you, Mr Bush!" Ring any bells?). I thought it was a fantastically entertaining piece of work, meshing facts perfectly with drama and comedy. And then in 2004 when he made "Fahrenheit 9/11" I felt like he went a little overboard-meshing together biased and out of context "facts" with forced drama and little comedy. And now with "Sicko" I felt like I was watching the Moore I enjoyed back in 2002. I felt like I wasn't being conned, and that Moore actually did have a point. This also makes a great companion piece for the Romanian film "The Death of Mr. Lazarescu," which I just recently revisited on DVD.

Here Michael Moore is taking a closer look at the United States health care system. Focusing on stories from actual people that contacted him through his website, Moore doesn't talk about the Americans that do not have any health insurance, but instead for the Americans that do have health insurance, and are clearly not a step safer than those without. Many Americans have died because of a screening process that the health people put everybody through when they request certain treatments. Many people are denied treatments for stupid reasons, like something they contracted years ago. One woman was refused kemo because of a past yeast infection. And it's all for the health companies to save money, as the doctors all receive a special bonus if they save the company the most money in a quarter. Moore than decides to visit some other countries-focusing her on Britain and France. When he visits there he learns that all drugs are either the same amount-no matter that quality or quantity-or everything is paid for by the government. Hospitals and doctors in those countries do not even touch money, and the only place where money is dealt with is a small booth for a man gives out money to the people to cover any car or transportation fees they had to deal with in getting to the hospitals. And then at the end, like in all past Moore films, there is a bit where he gets involved with a group of people. In "Columbine" he got active with a young man who was bullet ridden with bullets from K-Mart. Here he brings a group of sick people who had problems from helping out during 9/11 and did not receive help because they were deemed "volunteers." What he does with then I will leave for you to discover.

The attacks to Moore are very obvious from this film. And at one point I was some what thinking of them myself. If you are so satisfied with the care that these other countries gives, why don't you just move there? or Moore is un-American because he makes an entire film about how our health care sucks and how other countries know what they are doing? He even does an entire piece where he talks about Hilary Clinton, and her selling out to make some money over giving up her health care focus. But Moore isn't trying to just shame out health system-at times he even points out the flaws in everyone else' system. What he is doing is offering a very good comparison, and than making the point that very much like the health care systems in Canada-which have everybody looking after one another and taking a part-we all need to learn from one another. America does borrow ideas from other countries-cars, wines, etc-and that health care should be no different. The government should not be focusing on their money when it comes to the well-being of the people.

"Sicko" is certainly Moore's best film since "Columbine," and during this entire film I never once felt like I was being conned. I never felt that Moore was twisting these scenes that he has to his advantage. There is a short little clip from a Bush speech at the very beginning, but I think it was used more for comedy than for any serious point-much like the way David Letterman skews Bush speeches during his show. Moore does not appear in the film as much as his past works, and he mostly turns the camera over to the people who are telling their stories. And their tears actually seem legitimate. While watching "Fahrenheit 9/11," whenever one of the interviewees were telling their stories with the tears in the their eyes it all just seemed so fake and obvious. Everyone just had the same problem. In "Sicko" I actually was upset with them, and their stories just made me plain mad. "Sicko" reminded me that Moore is capable of making fine documentaries, and he returns to the mesh of facts, drama, and comedy that made me interested in him in the first place.

And I need to make a note of the music. Moore had an interesting choice in tunes here, mostly sticking with instrumental pieces from other movies. The most notable is Danny Elfman's music from "The Nightmare Before Christmas," but I also noticed a lot from Thomas Newman, and recognized pieces from "Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events," and "Little Children." This made me proud as Newman is one of my favorite movie composers, and it was great to see his work translate to other films.