Sicko

A kinder, gentler Michael Moore is in the director's chair for Sicko, a documentary illustrating the failings of the American healthcare system. Rambling around in his scruffy, Average Joe persona, Moore employs interviews, archival footage, and running commentary to take aim at HMO's (what's euphemistically called “managed care”), insurance companies, pharmaceutical corporations, callous hospitals, and governmental complicity, while also ridiculing the xenophobia that deters Americans from learning from other countries. In the latter vein, Moore visits Canada, France, England, and even Cuba (where, in the film's most provocative segment, he escorts ill volunteer workers from Ground Zero who've not received proper treatment here) to inquire about government-managed healthcare. But though Sicko is as focused as Moore's earlier efforts, it's not nearly as barbed—in fact, the director speaks in tones of bemused shock, feigning an almost Candide-like naïveté as he castigates American healthcare and pooh-poohs the notion that it's preferable to what are decried as “socialist” alternatives. Yes, Sicko has an agenda, and it's not "fair and balanced" (except in the Fox News sense), but it's also an entertaining film that encourage viewers to take a critical look at the very real contemporary healthcare crisis in the U.S. Recommended. [Note: DVD extras include an interview gallery with three bonus interviews (26 min. total), a 16-minute “More with Mike & Tony Benn” extended interview, a “What if You Worked for G.E. in France?” interview with a French worker (4 min.), an interview with “Sister Mary Fidel” (2 min.), “This Country Beats France” on Norway (10 min.), “Sicko Goes to Washington” on unified healthcare (9 min.), the added scenes “Who Would Jesus Deny?” (6 min.) and “Uniquely American” (5 min.), “A Different Kind of Hollywood Premiere” (3 min.), the “Alone With You” music video performed by The Nightwatchman, and trailers. Bottom line: a fine extras package for a provocative documentary.] (F. Swietek)