Ìý After the feverish polemic that was Fahrenheit 9/11, Michael Moore takes another swipe at the Bush administration in the "genuinely shocking", Sicko. Using many of the same tactics, he exposes a healthcare crisis in America which leaves millions of underprivileged citizens to fend for themselves. While some take issue with Moore's methods, his message did strike a nerve.
Caring And Sharing
On DVD, Moore stokes the fire with further stories of those let down by the system along with uncut opinion from the experts. One woman describes how her community rallied round when she was rejected for cancer treatment, but the plight of fellow cancer patient Joe is especially heart-rending. He passed away shortly after filming simply because he ran out of money to fund his course of radiation therapy. Moore is often criticised of manipulating feeling, but in this case, Joe's determination not to break down in front of the camera is a powerful and just indictment of privatised health care.
Moore was also accused of painting too rosy a picture of Britain's NHS. In another deleted sequence, he acknowledges some (but by no means all) of the problems that keep it in the headlines. According to him, Norway is the truest utopia where the government will buy you a car if you're physically unable to run for the bus, and where the police don't carry arms but have poodles instead.
In the featurette Sicko Goes To Washington, Moore takes what he has learnt to Capitol Hill to argue for the introduction of a publicly funded health service - albeit to no avail.
Oral Exam
Other concerns peripheral to Moore's film are discussed in a series of interviews. Slightly irritating is a meeting with veteran British politician Tony Benn, that plays like a university lecture in Socialism 101. Moore plays devil's advocate although he clearly worships this "champion of the working class". Much more edifying is his conversation with Harvard professor Marcia Angel MD, who touches upon the issue of pharmaceutical companies turning the field of medical research into a big money bonanza.
Harvard legal brain Elizabeth Warren explains how those Americans who do have health insurance are often swindled out of treatment. Dr Aleida Guevara (daughter of Che) tells how Cubans are often denied lifesaving drug treatments as a result of the US trade embargo.
Don't expect sexy starlets in glitzy gowns sashaying along the red carpet in footage from the LA premiere. Instead the audience is made up of those people who have been forgotten by their government. Like the film, the extras are highly emotive but Moore does well to find humour in the absurdity of the situation. In many ways, this DVD is a welcome shot in the arm.
EXTRA FEATURES
Sicko DVD is released on Monday 7th January 2008.
