Monday, July 9, 2007 | by nathan

“Sicko”

This past weekend, among other things, B and I went to see Sicko, the new documentary by Michael Moore. As with most of Michael Moore’s movies, I found my initial reaction to be outrage, and, well, sickness. My mom is a pharmacist, so I’ve long known that the healthcare system in America was deeply flawed and overpoliticized, but Moore has a way of bringing the suffering caused by these flaws to the forefront. I like the grassroots, populist tone of his films. I like that he went after Hillary Clinton in this movie.

But also, I know that Michael Moore is not without his flaws, and I have come to watching his films with an eye toward them. I do my best to recognize when he’s being manipulative, and I think I’ve gotten good at seeing when he’s perhaps not showing us the whole picture, like, in this film, when he goes through hospitals in Britain showing people having the most wonderful experiences and not having to pay a dime. I know from experience that the healthcare systems in Ireland (where I suffered a cold for three weeks because of a mold allergy) and Italy (where a quack doctor misdiagnosed me with the mumps) are not perfect, but I will say this: I didn’t have to pay, and the wait was not excruciating.

So, what I do with a Michael Moore film - really, any documentary, but especially his - is to keep my eyes open, and when I see something that is clearly not a trick - as with the C-SPAN testimony before the Senate of a woman who said she was paid large bonuses for turning down a man’s operation, causing his death - I don’t write it off because other parts of the film are a bit tricky. It seems, however, in the wake of Fahrenheit 9/11, that people are too quick to write him off, and that’s a shame, because the issue raised in this film really should go beyond politics.

The fact is, Americans have a horrible healthcare system. I speak as someone who currently has no insurance, and whose last insurance policy mandated I take my sick ass 30 miles to STUDENT HEALTH, where I could see a nurse for two minutes who would diagnose me with stress or an STD, or, if I was a girl, an eating disorder or pregnancy. And I had the honor of paying way too much for that. I also speak as someone whose much-needed visit to an allergy clinic last year was rejected by his insurance and who is now an extra $1100 in debt because he had the misfortune of having allergies that were causing him to get about an hour of sleep a night.

In a way I’m sad it was Michael Moore who made this film, and not some unknown or more well-respected filmmaker, because it might have a chance of being taken more seriously. But if you’re not one of those people determined to write him off - or, alternately, one of those people determined to brainlessly buy into everything he says - you should take your ass to see this movie, because it’s shocking, disappointing and sad to see that the quality of life of millions of Americans are for sale on Capitol Hill, and the only reason we don’t have universal healthcare is because a bunch of fat, rich, white guys were appalled that President Clinton put his wife - his WOMAN! - in charge of figuring out how to get that done.