Yesterday evening, I saw Sicko at the Electric Cinema.

I’m not a huge fan of movie theaters and generally prefer dvds, as not only can I pause and rewind as many times as I want, I don’t have to listen to other people chewing popcorn throughout the movie… But, if I have to go to one cinema in London, it will have to be The Electric for everyday movies, the only close contender being iMAX for major sci-fi or extremely graphic movies.

Sicko, is the new Michael Moore documentary/film, which mocks the American health care system, like his other documentaries (Bowling for Columbine, Farenheit 9/11 etc), it was an extremely one sided view on a serious topic which does not get enough media coverage… And though the American health care system was examined from only one point of view (it is bad, bad, bad), at least it is getting discussed.

Here are a few things I picked up from the movie, whether I agree with all of them or not is a different issue…

*France has the best health care system in the world. A long list of other countries, England and Canada included actually care more about sick poor people than Americans do… Even Cuba has a better health system.

*The American health care system only works if you’re rich. If you’re poor, too bad, as the health insurance companies care more about making money than sick people… Some even create margins which define the percentage of people who they actually accept to cover.
Former HMO employees who quit their jobs because they were offended by the way the corporations they worked for treated sick people, spoke about these practices.

*Some parts of the movie, when he was examining the French system for example, made me laugh our loud… Whilst other parts made me cry, like when a young mother spoke about the death of her young daughter, due to the fact that she was not being treated at their closest hospital (because her insurance only covered specific hospitals) and she had to transport her daughter to another hospital, wasting precious time, which led to the death of her daughter.

*If you were a terrorist or a mass murderer, you might be luckier than the average American… Michael discussed the fact that detainees at Guantánamo Bay are entitled to something American citizens are not: free healthcare

*Jim Kenefick, proprietor of the huge anti-Micheal Moore site Moorewatch, almost shut down his site when he couldn’t afford to keep the site running, whilst having to pay around $12, 000 in hospital bills for his wife.
He received a check for the whole sum from an anonymous donor… And so he could continue to hate Michael Moore. Michael confessed that he was the donor, saying “I want him to know it was done with all the best intentions” and he deserves to be allowed his first amendment right to hate him, even though it’s ironic he hates him for shedding light on the system that almost shut him down.

I won’t write anymore, as I do not want to give the whole movie away…. It’s just over two hours long, so the comfy seats at The Electric where definitely appreciated, it’s showing now… Go see it!

Link: http://www.michaelmoore.com/