Sicko Review

Now, before I even begin reviewing this I have to say a few things. Before watching this movie, I had the utmost hatred for Michael Moore. I'd slandered him many, many times while friends were praising him. After watching this movie, I still hate him but I look at him in a new light. Kind of.

Plot: A documentary on the highly profitable American health care industry, comparing it with other nations to see some of the major differences. Also he interviews people who've have some terrible HMO horror stories.

Sicko, compared to Fahrenheit 9/11 or Bowling for Columbine, was much, much better in my opinion. The stories of people in America are heartbreaking. I guarantee your eyes water up when he introduces you to a woman who lost her husband to cancer because his health care provider wouldn't approve his bone marrow transplant. He actually interviews a few people who, by the time this film was released, had died from not receiving the care they needed due to being rejected by their HMO's. According to Moore, America, in terms of health care, is ranked 37th in the world but, we also have the most expensive health care system in the world. Not only that, but one of the most disturbing things revealed in the movie was a security camera catching the discarding of hospital patients. People who couldn't pay their hospital bills were being loaded into taxi cabs and dropped off on a random street, still on disorienting drugs and in their hospital gowns. I honestly was stunned by this. It made me sick to think the hospitals were ok'ing this and that it was a normal occurrence.

Now, I'm only 21 years old and I've already had problems with getting my own health insurance and getting them to pay for doctor visits. I make around $800 a month but am forced to pay $240 for terrible health insurance. It's sickening, but I don't want to make this about me, this is about Sicko, and the touching stories along with the informative stats discussed in the movie. I may be making it out to sound like it's filled with just mushy stories of heartbreak, but there are also some pretty comical moments.

But, as many good things that I can say about this movie, I can say just as many bad things. For instance, he really only represents one side of the story. Moore interviews many people who have worked in the health care industry but, no real doctors(from the U.S. at least). He doesn't interview any of the higher ups from any of the many HMO's in America. However, they probably wouldn't have given him an interview if they thought it would hurt the companies' image.

**Some Spoilers**
One of the scenes at the end, where Moore brings workers from the 9/11 tragedy to Cuba to receive free health care for injuries and sickness received from working amongst the debris at the Twin Towers, is a bit over the top. It just didn't seem like a necessary thing, even though they were able to receive free health care that would have cost thousands of dollars here.

Another somewhat over the top thing that Moore does is send a check anonymously for $12,000 to the owner of the largest Michael Moore bashing site. The site owner's wife had fallen ill and he either had to keep the site open, or close it and help his wife to get better. When Michael Moore revealed that he had sent it, it felt like he did it just to be a jerk and say "Can't bash me now, I just saved your wife's life." Or, maybe he really did do it for the reason he said, which was in protection of the first amendment. Either way, it felt a little fake.
**End of Spoilers**

Overall, I think that this movie was informative, eye opening, and people should give it a chance. A lot of people are just bashing this movie simply because it was made by Michael Moore. But, what about the people who told their heartbreaking horror stories? If anything, I'd say watch it for them.

MPAA Rating: PG-13 (for brief strong language)

Runtime: 2 hours 3 minutes

Rating(out of 10): 8.3