Sicko (2007)

Bowling For Columbine was an amazing piece of work that was engaging, funny, heartwarming, sad and beautifully told. One of the finest Documentary films i have seen. Fahrenheit 9/11 was for sure a step down for Michael Moore. Less engaging, too overally political and overall didn't have the impact of Columbine


With Sicko, Moore is looking into the currupt medical system within the united states. It's an improvement on Fahrenheit but didn't reach the heights of Columbine. From a directing standpoint it's more towards columbine. Because unlike Fahrenheit which seemed just a tool in which moore could express his political views, Sicko uses human stories to make his point, which gives it an extra level of it being a problem that effects people. Some of the stories were truely sad, and they worked in the context of the documentary, becausei felt like throwing stuff at the screen because of the terrible situations the US health system had left these people in. Moore does have a likeability factor, and a certain charisma that shines through on the screen.


However, and it's a pretty big "however", there is one simple, and i mean simple, point where sicko loses a lot of its credit. The moment Moore steps out of the states and tries to make a point about other countries health systems, the weakness and one sided mind of moore is exposed. He goes to the UK, and of course, health care is free here but we still have our issues, issues that Moore seems to have overlooked. Instead he hails all other countries Health systems as heaven and faultless. He also not only dumbs down his general arguement by skipping over facts opting for a faultless utopia of health but his attitude makes him seem really...stupid. He wonders around asking "so how much did that cost?" about 50 times "i was beginning to wonder where the cashier guy was" "This can't be true..[montage of him asking the same question]...maybei should check another country"...Que france....Same stupid questions. It just came off as dumbed down. I totally agree that the currupt way the US works their health is wrong, based on profit and such. He's right to point out these issues, but point out the issues in other health systems, don't pratonise your audience and the people of those countries who (though have free health care) have to deal with plenty of other health issues, its not near perfect.

Even though this was a HUGE gripe for me, and i don't want to set it aside. I can though realise that he does expose some huge flaws in the US system, theres some great footage here too. Including 1950s public service videos, the true life stories are very interesting.

All in all, i can't fault Michael Moore's directorial talent. He's great with setting up the sequences to provide gripping documentary film making. He is also exposing subjects that need to be exposed and there is a huge fault in the US health system. This is deffinatly a step up from Fahrenheit 9/11. However his ability to dumb down his approach, plainly skip over issues in other countries to service his own point takes this film down quite a few pegs for me.