Michael Moore's Sicko
|
Wanted to go see Louise Pitre last night at the Jazz Festival.
She's the petite, unabashedly grey-haired, gloriously voiced singing sensation from my home town who wowed audiences in both the States and Canada as the lead in "Mama Mia." I have never heard a voice like hers, or been so entertained and moved by a performance. I mean, this is was a MUSICAL, not a genre known for the excellence of its acting, and I was so swept up in Pitre's performance... Let's just say I was swept up and leave it at that.
But I waited too long to get tickets, and she sold out the Savoy Cabaret series.
Matt & I decided to take a chance on another show at our old stomping grounds of the Pilot Tavern in Yorkville, where we used to hold WILDsound. But alas, another sold-out show.
Fortunately, we're good at third chances, Matt and me. It seemed like fate was steering us in the direction of the Cumberland Theatre. And SICKO.
Jen Sees Moore Cuts on the Bias
I have to admit. I'm a Michael Moore fan.
Yeah, I know he's biased, which is a no-no for a doc maker. Even a doc maker who, really, makes no bones about being biased, and offers no excuses.
Anyone who DOESN'T believe Moore shows bias in his films... well, you haven't been paying attention, I guess.
But it doesn't bug me. I get where he's coming from, and I know when I'm being manipulated. But I'm not above wanting to cry at a good drama, and I don't mind being forced to see things through Moore's eyes.
I'm not totally down with the way his camera lingers on weeping widows and broken families. But I also don't mind feeling the discomfort he raises in me by his often voyeuristic techniques. At least it gets me thinking: "Am I responding to how he shot the scene, or am I uncomfortable because I want to turn away from someone else's pain?"
And I don't actually know the answer.
SICKO Makes Jen Happy
So I cried, and had my gut wrenched during SICKO.
Moore is skilled at touching visceral nerves, with close-ups of a man forced to sew up the gash in his own knee because he has no health insurance. With the pitiful sight of a EMT worker who developed breathing problems after working at Ground Zero coughing so hard she can hardly answer his questions. With another woman, after years of poor and expensive half-care in the States, sobbing because she is treated finally for her ailments in Cuba.
SICKO touches a nerve because it gets to the heart of the problem with the American medical system, and the way the States is doing business in general – the concept of helping one another is out of fashion.
When people forget to stand together, society is broken, and civilization is not very civilized.
Through all of Moore's biases, the truth of this rings as clear and true as the "Bell of Freedom" is supposed to.
In the words of The Simpson's Martin Prince: "Individually we are weak, like a single twig. But as a bundle, we form a mighty faggot."
Yes, indeed, Martin. Indeed we do.
Return from Jen Frankel Sicko Blog to WILDsound Filmmaking Feedback Events home page
