"Sicko" leaves us in the waiting room...

Michael Moore's "Sicko" makes its points well. He has his folksy-like-a-fox methods and his manipulations and agendas, but we know that by now. He intentionally horrifies us, embarrasses our nation, and offers no solutions. He knows that with an election around the corner, any bridge he might build, any articulation out of the healthcare quagmire is going to be blown up by critics, thus rendering the larger ideas moot. Same scenario with "An Inconvenient Truth" - it seems that the function of this new type of socially conscious movie is to pose big questions and outrage the emotions to the point of activism. As Sarah points out, it's easy to make the green movement sexy, and to enlist the participation of the evil empire (i.e. corporations). But the healthcare system is broken precisely because it is beholden to so many tropes and contracts of big business. We're going to have to go it alone if we want to repair healthcare. Or move to Cuba.

I might add that Michael Moore seems to be encouraging people to download the film for free from the Internet. "I've already made my money," he says. And while I'm sure Bob and Harvey Weinstein feel differently, it's an encouraging gesture. That said, it may be better to see "Sicko" in theaters (or buy tickets and download at home if you must) in support of this kind of filmmaking.