06/08/2007

Moore hopes 'Sicko' disgusts you

By JOHN HORN

Los Angeles Times

Michael Moore and his movies have always been hard to miss. But with "Sicko,'' his new documentary about health care, there's less of the filmmaker and his usual methods.

Not wanting the limelight, Moore passed on the competition at this year's Cannes Film Festival, where he won the top prize with 2004's "Fahrenheit 9/11.'' In "Sicko,'' he isn't chasing down insurance and pharmaceutical executives for confrontational interviews. But what's most striking about "Sicko” is that Moore's current target is much harder to pinpoint.

Whereas the foils of his earlier films were obvious — General Motors in "Roger & Me,'' the gun industry in ``Bowling for Columbine,'' the Bush administration in "Fahrenheit 9/11'' — the ultimate protagonist in "Sicko” is American indifference. Moore believes the country unthinkingly settles for substandard and ruinously costly treatment, especially when compared with countries that have universal health care.

Although the film is filled with terrible medical outcomes, "Sicko's” thrust is to hold up models of superior, government-provided care in France, Canada and (in a move that landed Moore in hot water with the Treasury Department) Cuba.

"I don't have to convince the American public that there is something wrong with our health-care system,'' Moore said. "That's why I don't spend a lot of time in the film on the health-care horror stories. I'm hoping that the American people, when they see this film, will say, `You know, there is a better way, and maybe we should look at what they are doing in some of these other countries.'''

That the U.S. ranked 37th on the World Health Organization global 2000 survey of the best countries for health care infuriates Moore. Among "Sicko's” villains are politicians who pocket millions from HMOs and pharmaceuticals while denouncing universal care as little better than a communist plot.

To highlight the shortcomings of U.S. care, Moore at one point focuses on the plight of several chronically ill Sept. 11 rescue volunteers. Convinced that enemy-combatant detainees receive better care at Guantanamo Bay, Moore and the volunteers take a boat to Cuba. If the Cuba inquiry put the spotlight back on Moore, the filmmaker says that wasn't his intention.

"I'm not going to be the one sticking my neck out here,'' he says. "People are going to have to come along. They are not going to be able to say, 'Let Mike go after this. We'll come along later when it looks safe.' And I don't need to convince the American public that there is something wrong here. I am hoping to inspire them in some way, to become active and to do something.''