Taking advantage of the empty theaters while everyone was standing in line to get their iPhone, I saw Michael Moore's new film about the Health Care industry, Sicko. I thought it was brilliant, insightful and balanced. The point he makes is simple; a for-profit health care industry is incompatable with quality care. He has even garnered support for the film by no less than FoxNews, which called it "brilliant and uplifting."
The film is not perfect. The music is a little overly dramatic at times, and you do feel your emotions are manipulated in places, but these moments are overwhelmed by the way Moore is able to take a complex, dry subject (including a history lesson) and makes it entertaining and in the end, hopeful.
After bringing forth an army of Moore-haters after his last film, Fahrenheit 911, Moore appears to have lost none of his energy for taking on the big issues, and I am glad for it. Even those who despise him must admit that health care in the United States is failing and needs to be discussed, and perhaps that is what Moore's movies are best at – opening up debate. I am sure that like his previous movies, people will be studying this film frame by frame to find factual inconsistency, out-of-context sound bites, and distortion. I applaud those that do, and I look forward to hearing about them. The debate begins.
Moore testified before Congress last week, here's a clip (not sure who produced it):
Excellent overview of Moore's position can be heard in this interview on "Real Time with Bill Maher":
Added 7/7/07: Here's a story by the National Center for Public Policy Research (don't know anything about them) contradicting some of Moore's assertions regarding the Cuban health Care System as shown in Sicko.
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