Film Reviews

Sicko

• Rating:
• Director: Michael Moore
• Starring: George W. Bush
• Details: US / 113mins (PG).

I can't make up my mind about Michael Moore. Yes, he delivers highly-entertaining and timely documentaries that raise very important questions, but the way he asks those questions and delivers his messages can leave me cold. With Roger And Me, The Big One, TV Nation, Bowling For Columbine and Fahrenheit 9/11, Moore has arguably single-handedly popularised the documentary, and subsequent releases like Super Size Me, An Inconvenient Truth, Enron, Wal-Mart, The Fog Of War and Outfoxed might not have enjoyed the exposure they've had - they certainly wouldn't have got a cinema release. You have to hand it to him for bringing certain things to light and even though he raises more questions than answers, he must be applauded for asking them in the first place. He can be sensationalist and cheesy, however, and sometimes it's hard to spot the difference between his ego and the issue; Sicko, a damning indictment on America's health care system, whistles the same tune. With his childlike narration and simplistic stating of the facts, Moore takes his camera across America to interview the refugees of a failing health system, which, the big man tells us, will see 18,000 die because they don't have health insurance. Doctors, patients and insurance company whistleblowers all contribute horror stories and arrive at the same conclusion - the health system (and America) is rotten from the inside-out. Moore travels to Canada, England, France and Cuba to compare health systems, and America's comes up short - too short for his, and those who suffer's liking. Sicko is an improvement on his past outings: the Bush administration, although present, take more of a backseat to his gentle rants this time round and Moore allows himself less screen time than before. It's also boasts his bravest move yet - the shipping of 9/11 rescue workers, who struggle for insurance in their own country, to Guantanamo Bay where the inmates get the socialised health cover he argues his country needs. Plucky? Yes. Shameless self-promotion? That too. Despite the slight change in approach, Moore's annoying tactics are still employed: the immature humour, the use of silly music (Willy Wonka, Star Wars theme tunes), the MTV/Simple Life editing (the splicing in of random, aghast reactions we know are taken from elsewhere) and the bittersweet epilogue. Sicko, despite the qualms, is an effective documentary and that's all it has to be in the end.

Review by Gavin Burke