Review of Sicko (2007) by Raül J — 27 Jul 2009

Linda Peeno: My name is Linda Peeno. I am here primarily today to make a public confession: In the Spring of 1987, as a physician, I denied a man a necessary operation that would of saved his life, and thus caused his death. No person, and no group has held me accountable for this, because in fact, what I did was I saved a company a half a million dollars for this. And for the more, this particular act secured my reputation as a good medical director, and it insured my continued advancement in the health care field. I went from making a few hundred dollars a week as a medical reviewer, to an escalating six-figure income as a physician executive. In all my work, I had one primary duty, and that was to use my medical expertise for the financial benefit for the organization which I worked. And I was told repeatedly that I was not denying care, I was simply denying payment. I know how managed care pains and kills patients. So I am here to tell you about the dirty work of managed care. And I'm haunted by the thousands of pieces of paper in which I have written that deadly word, "denied".

This, by itself, could justify the value of the film and a revolution in the States. It has to be seen. It has to be known. The devastating, scary and disarmingly stories and testimonies we can see in Sicko show us a country that went really, surprisingly, dramatically wrong. Yet Moore may loose the focus sometimes, or paints an incomplete portrait for his own good (Europe looks like a kind of paradise that is not real), but the rellevance of the film is way more important than that. He gives space and voice to the people, and we are compelled by the stories we known, trying to understand why a healthcare system like these can exist in the "democracy of democracies". Values? Not in America, sorry. The amount of revealling moments makes Sicko Moore's best work and an absolute MUST SEE.

Keeping people hopeless and pessimistic - see I think there are two ways in which people are controlled - first of all frighten people and secondly demoralize them....An educated, healthy and confident nation is harder to govern. Tony Benn.