Sneak preview of Sicko

[Guest guest]

" Whether looking at Canada's privately-run, provincially paid for health

care systems, or England's National Health Service, or France's social

democracy, or Cuba's impoverished egalitarianism, finds the universal

thread

that makes their social systems more successful than ours. " They live in a

world

of we, not me, " he says near the end of the film. " We'll never fix anything

until we get that one thing right. "

June 26, 2007

I [Merrill Gooner] snuck into a sneak preview of 's new film

this week. Here's a sneak review

Sicko

About two-thirds of the way through " Sicko, " takes us to

France, where health care is free, doctors make housecalls, daycare is cheap,

and

vacations are long. A group of American ex-patriots, sitting around a cafe

table, extol the wonders of their adopted, family-friendly environment. " Is

there a reason the government wanted us to hate the French, " ponders. " It

was enough to make me put away my Freedom Fries. "

A few scenes later, we're back in the U.S. watching the largest hospital in

Los Angeles dump an indigent, mentally confused patient on the doorstep of

homeless shelter because she didn't have money or insurance. " Who are we, " the

filmmaker asks in his omniscient narrator's voice. " Is this what we've

become? A country that dumps its citizens on the sidewalk because they can't

pay

their hospital bills? "

The national discussion provoked by the film will inevitably focus on the

gross failures and inequities of the U.S. health insurance system, as it

should. And like most people who know too much about that system, I could

complain

for hours about the inaccuracies, unfair comparisons, agit-prop stunts and

questionable political judgments that went into the making of " Sicko. " You'll

read plenty such comments in the mainstream media when the reviewers get their

hands on the film this weekend, and you may have a few of those thoughts

yourself when you go see it.

But they pale by comparison to the larger point that makes over and

over again in this heartrending, brilliant and occasionally very funny film.

Our patchwork private health insurance system is a tragedy for those whom it

fails. But its failures are really just a metaphor for what a growing

proportion of Americans recognize is wrong with this country.

Whether looking at Canada's privately-run, provincially paid for health care

systems, or England's National Health Service, or France's social democracy,

or Cuba's impoverished egalitarianism, finds the universal thread that

makes their social systems more successful than ours. " They live in a world

of we, not me, " he says near the end of the film. " We'll never fix anything

until we get that one thing right. "

The film is filled with heartrending stories of people who couldn't afford

or were denied care, usually by profit-maximizing insurance companies. And

that is ultimately what keeps us glued to the screen. Indeed, the real people

whose stories tells triumph over the questionable settings in which he

put some of them (I'm thinking here of the highly publicized stunt of taking

ill and injured 9/11 rescue workers who can't afford needed medical treatments

on boats to Guantanamo Bay to demand health care as good as the detainees

ostensibly get).

But is individual misfortune enough to sway a political debate that will be

dominated by people with their own well-financed megaphones and a compliant

media willing to spread their distortions? Already is being attacked for

promoting socialized medicine, even though neither Canada nor France

directly employ most of their physicians.

But that's the point with 's work. As with most of his films, has

succeeded in putting himself at the center of a major political debate. So

what if there are enough mistakes to give the insurance industry, the drug

companies, and their spokespersons plenty of ammunition. It's controversial!

It's fun! And it's made a rich man.

A few weeks ago, I watched Bill Mahar interview on HBO. said his

only goal was to get people asking why we're the only industrialized country

in the world that doesn't have universal health insurance coverage. Mahar

enthused that he thought the political reaction to the film would push the

movement for universal coverage " over the edge. "

Even though I wholeheartedly agree with the film's overarching message, it's

going to take a lot more than agit-prop to push this movement over the top.

Posted by gooznews at June 26, 2007 10:59 PM

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GoozNews June 28, 2007

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-- The Coming Age of Unwellness

-- Sicko

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