Less is Moore

Sicko - 4/5

Let's get one thing straight from the start - Michael Moore is not a documentarian (at least not in the sense that most of us would understand that word). He's either an entertaining polemicist or a polemical entertainer. He does not provide a balanced argument, what he does is try to stir things up and stir things up he does (which is usually no bad thing) - witness the rash of anti-Moore websites and films (many of which, rather than defending the things he attacks use the same methods they descry him for using in order to attack him). I rather suspect that Moore revels in all this attention - witness the moment in this film where the gut who set up one of the largest Moore-bashing websites is threatened with having to shut down in order to pay for his sick wife's treatment and Moore anonymously (but the announced to the world in the film? Work that one out) sends him the money he needs to keep it going.

At the end of the day, alot comes down to whether the issue he picks is deserving of the Moore treatment. In Sicko he finds a worthy target and the result is a much better film than the overblown Fahrenheit 911, which was too much of a personal attack and ended up being as much about Moore and George Dubya. (In reality, of course, Dubya doesn't need to be countered with a larger than life figure like Moore - just let him open his mouth and speak for himself). It's probably not quite in the same league as Bowling for Columbine, but is still a powerful attack on the American healthcare industry. Moore wisely keeps himself much more in the background for the first half of the movie, letting his interviewees tell their own tales. In doing so he seems much more in touch with his humanirarian side than he ever did in Fahrenheit.

And his target - well you have to say that when an industry rewards doctors with bonuses for the number of patients they are able to deny treatment too and hospitals put disorientated patients in taxis and have them dumped in the street outside homeless shelters when they can't pay their bills, then maybe they are deserving of all Moore's bile. Yes it is totally one-sided and the pictures he paints of our own NHS and the French welfare state are maybe rather too rosy, but they do at least say there are other ways of doing this. His faux-naif mugging during these sections is also rather grating after a while.

But these are minor faults at the end of the day - the film also includes much more in the way of meaningful contributions from others - witness Tony Benn in passionate form on the benefits of democracy and some genuinely moving stories from those affected by failures of the American healthcare insurance industry.

And what of the final act and its vaunted publicity stunt of taking 911 rescue volunteers to try and get free medical treatment at Guantanomo - yes it is a complete stunt. But far from exploiting people, as he has been accused of, Moore does succeed in getting these people much needed medical attention (in Cuba) and there is a really touching scene where the Cuban firefighters pay respect to their American counterparts. Neither is there the level of Bush-bashing that you might expect from the trailer. In fact, whilst there are side-swipes at Bush, Reagan and Nixon, it is Hilary Clinton who gets the worst treatment having moved from trying to reform the industry to taking contributions from it.

You should know what to expect from Moore by now and this ticks all the boxes - its one-sided, but also both entertaining and moving in its argument. Worth watching even if it is with a pinch of salt at times.