Sunday, February 24, 2008

Movie Recommendation: Sicko

If you haven't seen it yet, rent a copy of Michael Moore's Sicko. We watched it last night, and it was really incredible.

The documentary focuses on the U.S. HMO system. Generally speaking, we do not value human life in this country. The smartest thing in the film was Moore's point -- taken from the awesome British MP Tony Benn -- that until we move from a world of "me" to a world of "we" we can never get past statistics like: most bankruptcies are the result of medical bills, and a staggering percentage of the homeless are folks who lost their homes because of medical bills that took everything they had.

The film is up for an Oscar tonight. While I don't have an opinion about that since this is probably the only nominated film we've seen this year, I think it's important to watch this film in the context of the presidential election. It includes an interesting section on Hillary Clinton and her incredible work on this issue, and what happened from there. On the one hand, it makes me want to support her more because of the horrible treatment she received from the good ole' boys in the Senate. On the other hand, it demonstrates how her Presidency would be more of the same in terms of HMOs. Moore didn't cover Obama's healthcare policy, but it is pretty identical to Clinton's. We're in a deep damn rut with this issue.

When you get the DVD, make sure to watch the extra interview with Tony Benn on the Bonus Features section.

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