A big complaint from even the left is filmmaker Michael Moore's tendency to showboat and play for the cameras. Apparently, some memos got to Moore since he is almost completely absent in
Sicko, a documentary that investigates health care in the United States, focusing on its health insurance and the medical paradoxes and insanities. This proves more effective than the usual set-ups Moore has. Essentially, people are left to tell their own endless tales of horror of waste and mismanagement. If anything, the film is rather generous since the US system really is almot bottom-of-the-barrel and indeed in terms of what people pay for - it's a disgrace and deserves a pounding. Still Moore is Moore and can't help himself by pulling a stunt that is going to infuriate even friendly critics (I count myself here).
He "ends" the film with an incredible trip to Cuba where all the patients he brings are given superb care. The problem is not the obvious propaganda being done but Moore once-again playing stupid as if he doesn't know that things are not what they appear to be. In fact, the Cuban system IS a model in many ways but, to be fair to Moore, he skips over the pathologies in other systems (Canada, Cuba, England, etc) to contrast the US badly.
But point a may be true - the current US system is intolerable. Point b - everyone else does it better needs more argumentation. But focusing on point a the film delivers the laughs. But point B is going to require more seriousness - and the fact that no such documentary has emerged is a challenge to critics of Moore who hate him to do his type of politicized reporting even better.
None, unfortunately, have done a better job - yet.
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