Moore's Latest Takes On Healthcare System

The ever-controversial Michael Moore, whose last film, as we all know, galvanized American audiences, is back with a new film, Sicko, which has the potential to do the same. If the war in Iraq is the most important current issue to most Americans, then America's disastrous health care system is surely in second place. The film has already been attacked by Republican potential Fred Thompson, who accused Moore of propagandizing for the Castro regime when he took a bunch of sick Americans to Cuba for treatment. (Unlike the doctors at the U.S. naval base at Guantßnamo, the Cubans in Havana proved quite happy to treat the Americans). On the whole, though, the buildup for the new movie seems less momentous than it did for Fahrenheit 9/11.

Moore certainly has a talent for stirring up controversy. His talent for discussing the issues he raises in meaningful ways is more questionable. Fahrenheit 9/11 was, ultimately, little more than an egotistical screed constructed of arguments most people were already familiar with, and it became downright offensive when Moore used a dead soldier's grave as a soapbox. A serious, thoughtful analysis of the health care problems in this country is long overdue, but whether Moore is the one to provide it is doubtful.