Movie Review: Michael Moore's Sicko

In a searing two-hour indictment of the American health care system, and, partly, the American way of life, Michael Moore presents us his latest documentary, Sicko, perhaps in the hope that it will make a difference. There is much in the film to give viewers sleepless nights, but it is more than a mere litany of grief and sickness. We are presented with alternative models of health care, and a hard push is made for universal health care in one form or another.

Michael Moore may be emerging as an accomplished auteur of personal documentary-style cinema with Sicko. His knack for turning the camera and the viewers into patient listeners and observers of reality imparts an anthropological flair to the film. All the same, this is not an anthropological documentary like one we might see on the Discovery Channel or National Geographic. Sicko blends personal histories with tragic moments, some dry humour with even a bit of farce and play-acting of solutions, such as the by-now infamous trip to Cuba, and the 'revelations' of universal health care in the Guantanamo Bay prison, and subsequent medical treatment of 9/11 rescue workers in Havana, Cuba.

The American health care system might be better than, say, that of Burundi, but, as Michael Moore shows, it has bartered social goals for capitalist objectives. This would ordinarily be a good thing, and indeed is what has given the free markets system its undeniable ability to deliver the most benefits from constrained resource sets, yet it may not be the only way to solve a constrained-resources problem like delivering limited health care resources to a seemingly unlimited consumer base. As the examples of Canada, Britain, France, and even Cuba illustrate, health care can be treated much like other social services such as policing, fire engines, and schools, and delivered through a collectivized cost process that commits to availability of these social services to every citizen, irrespective of economic or health status.

The film touches on numerous additional social issues, albeit tangentially, such as the debt crisis in American society, and demolishes numerous shibboleths about universal health care, such as the availability of medical services in countries that follow this model, like Canada. He demonstrates through real-world examples how the system could work, if social benefits were given more priority. Some of his examples will doubtless be dissected and critiqued, gaps in reportage scrutinized, and counter-examples provided by defenders of private-driven health care systems in neoliberal America. Yet it would be close to impossible to deny his basic thesis, namely that the system is broken, not just for the 50 million or so uninsured citizens, but even for the non-plutocratic rest of us, who are merely trying to get by, and paying up our insurance premiums, and hoping against hope that there would be no need to go up against the health-care system for anything more serious than a sniffle; although, as Michael Moore shows, even a simple yeast infection can be sufficient cause to deny benefits in the future.

Article Author: Aaman Lamba

Aaman Lamba is a Blogcritics editor, as well as the Publisher of Desicritics.org, a Blogcritics network site covering media, politics, culture, sports and more with a global South Asian focus

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