'Sicko' has some ailing flaws
MOVIE REVIEW
by KEN BARTOLOTTA Reporter

Documentary filmmaker Michael Moore takes on the U.S. heath system in "Sicko."

The world isn't as black and white as Michael Moore would lead us to believe.

As is the case with the majority of his documentaries, his newest movie, "Sicko," paints America as a direct divide between the haves and have-not's, where the wealthy hold their fortunes over the poor like a king might hold reign over the serfs in the middle ages.

Moore's newest gun of advocacy is aimed at the heath care system in America, and while he makes some good points, like many of his films, you have to digest his offerings with a grain of salt - and then some.

Don't get me wrong, I'm as liberal as they come, but Moore once again, in "Fahrenheit 9/11" fashion, omits a certain number of facts to send the message he wishes to send.

It's a good movie and Moore injects it with the humor that has made his docs more entertaining than informative, but it does go over the top and chooses the dramatic in lieu of a more solid and concrete approach to the problems that plague our nation's health care.

Because the movie really does force one to think, and regardless of how glaring the flaws of the piece may be, when you see the plight and suffrage that has befallen so many of the sick in our country, you realize that there was no buffering when it comes to telling their stories.

It's certainly not an enjoyable movie by any means, and it's message is that of the sobering variety, a well-needed foil to the escapist and fantasy-laden summer that Hollywood has given us so far.

Still, despite, or in spite of the fact that this movie is about the sick and even the poor, Moore can't help but take potshots at both the president and more widely at republicans in general.

And that's the inherent flaw of this movie, because if change is ever going to come, if the conditions of our health care system are ever going to improve, it won't be the result of childish finger pointing and the tedious monotony of the blame game.

In press interviews Moore has given prior to "Sicko's," release, the director spoke of taking a more middle ground in his movies, but it seems that once again Moore can't help but lean to the left.

It's the sort of thing I personally had no problem with in "Fahrenheit 9/11." In that case, he was taking aim at a public figure, but here it's just becoming tiresome. There's bigger issues here, and when he takes shots at republicans, no matter how deserving it may be, it just seems like a waste of time.

People are sick and dying in this country and not getting the care they need as a result of big business. That's Moore's message and he's willing to do just about anything to get that point across. I just don't see how comparing the president to the devil is going to fix that.

The world is not black and white - there's shades of gray that complicate everything - and when Moore tries to make everything so clear-cut, he's only resorting to the same extremist tactics of the very people he's spent much of his career rallying against.

e-mail: kenb@beenews.com