Sicko (2007)

VERDICT:
8/10 Copayments

Now, I’m not gonna use this as a soap box on health care reform, but after watching Obama’s speech to congress the other night, can’t say it didn’t get me a little inspired.

Sicko is a Michael Moore documentary aimed at exposing the many flaws in the U.S.A.’s health care system, not so much for those of us who don’t have health insurance, but for those us who do have health insurance and are getting royally screwed, and at times victimized, by the companies behind it all.

You’ve probably formed your own opinions of Moore by now, so you probably already know whether you’re going to see this or not regardless of my review. But since I think he’s a kickass filmmaker and this whole health care thing is a pretty hot issue at the moment, I’m just gonna keep on going.

The thing that works about this movie more than, say, Fahrenheit 9/11, is that its subject matter is very much bipartisan. Doesn’t matter if you vote on the left or the right, everyone gets sick and no one should have to stay sick just because they can’t afford to get better. Sure, this leads back into politics at times, but I don’t think it’ll stop anyone from getting nothing short of fucking furious at the Democratic or Republican higher-ups in office who think it’s cool to make a profit out of your ill-being.

And like a lot of Michael Moore movies, this one will make you angry. It’ll open your eyes, and it’s pretty damn funny, but lord will it make you angry. It only really takes one story of someone getting their life ruined by the American health care system to get you worked up, let alone story…after story…after story. But it’s good that it gets you angry, you should get angry if it relates back to your own life. If this thing was aimed at making you feel lukewarm, this movie wouldn’t be good for jack shit.

Now, I’m not saying that Moore’s interviewing techniques here are flawless and that everything he presents to his audience should be taken at face value, but this is also something you could say for Bill O’Reilly. With that said, the movie is at its best when Moore just shuts up and lets the evidence at hand speak for itself; people who have died unnecessarily because of our health care system, testimonials from people who consciously benefited from ensuring that others did not receive the care they needed in order to live, and how we’re the only country on the planet that doesn’t have universal health care for its citizens.

It’s interesting to me when some people might watch this movie and call it un-American or as a PSA to get the hell out of here and move up to Canada. I try to be all ears on the subject, but, man, I just don’t get it. The thing is, it’s criminal that someone can put a price on a human life, and Sicko is Michael Moore’s way of saying that we as Americans, as human beings, deserve better and that things can be better. They guy’s not running for President, he’s just trying to give us what we’ve earned from birth.

For anyone that has a good health care plan or for anyone who doesn’t have health care at all, Sicko is a movie worth seeing because it’s one of those issues that keeps us all in check. You might not be sick now, but someday, God forbid, you might be put in a situation where you can’t get better because your life might mean someone else’s Christmas bonus. And that, dear readers, is some fucked up shit.