Sicko

The word is out, I think, that this is probably Michael Moore's best movie, largely because he's largely absent from it. We didn't plan to see Sicko last week, but the Harry Potter screenings were all sold out, and it was a hot, humid evening, so we were determined to see something.

We expected to see a film that told us what we already knew (i.e., the US health system really sucks--not enough people have insurance), but the actual focus turned out to be on people with health insurance rather than without, and the impact of the individual stories of sick and injured people whose claims had been denied was enormous. In contrast, Moore shows us satisfied customers of the Canadian, British, and French health systems, and in the movie's sole stunt, carts a bunch of 9/11 workers with health issues to Cuba for treatment.

The stunt is the least successful part of the movie (while Moore says, on camera, "just treat us like you would treat anybody else," who's going to "act natural" with a camera running and a celebrity watching?)

Still, very much worth seeing: eye-opening with regard to the venality of insurance companies and the shabby way we treat the sick in this country.

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