Moore's 'Sicko' promises to be an 'eye-opener'
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By Mel Huff Times Argus Staff - Published: June 28, 2007
MONTPELIER – The Savoy Theater is prepping for crowds.
Michael Moore's latest cherry bomb, "Sicko," an exposé of the U.S. health care system, opens Friday at the downtown Montpelier cinema for a run of at least three weeks.
Three years ago, when theater owners Rick Winston and his wife, Andrea Serota, showed Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11," which won the Palme D'Or at the Cannes Film Festival, they were "so overwhelmed by the crowds" that they added a 4:30 p.m. show, Winston said.
This time, in a departure from the Savoy's usual schedule, the film will be shown four times daily – they scheduled a 4:30 p.m. showing and added a 1:30 p.m. show "just in case." They hope the extended hours will result in fewer people getting turned away in the evening.
The film is also being promoted locally by a coalition of advocacy organizations – Vermont Health Care for All, the Vermont Workers' Center and the Vermont Public Interest Research Group. The groups plan to make as many as 1,000 free tickets available to uninsured and underinsured Vermonters. Dr. Deborah Richter of Vermont Health Care for All explained that they thought it was important for people who "are uninsured and who have high deductibles and co-pays and are having trouble paying medical bills" to see the film, "but they'd be least likely to see it."
Tickets, good for matinees only at the Savoy, are available at the Montpelier Health Center, VPIRG and the Vermont Workers' Center in Montpelier; the Cambridge Family Health Center in Cambridge; The Health Center in Plainfield; and Barre Internal Medicine, People's Health and Wellness and the Central Vermont Community Action Council in Barre. People who lack transportation are urged to e-mail vthca@sover.net.
Richter noted that doctors and nurses around the country are organizing turnouts for the film. Last week, Richter took part in a town meeting with Michael Moore in New Hampshire. Jennifer Henry, president of United Profession Vermont/AFT and a nurse at Fletcher Allen Health Care, spoke at a rally and screening of the film in Sacramento, Calif., two weeks ago.
The film does an excellent job of showing the inadequacies of the health care system, Richter said.
"We're so used to hearing how we have the best health care in the world, and when you recognize these other countries are doing far better for half as much as we're spending per person, it's almost an embarrassment," she said. "This movie is going to fan the flames of discontent. This will help mobilize people to demand change."
Richter, whose organization advocates universal health care, maintained that it's not unusual for doctors and nurses to be taking the lead in mobilizing people to see the film. "We're really on the front lines," she said. "We're the ones that see the deterioration of the system front and center. For us, it's a daily exposure to this deterioration."
She said representatives of Vermont Health Care for All will be standing outside the theater collecting signatures for HR676, a bill co-sponsored by Rep. Peter Welch that would create a federal single-payer universal health care plan. "But there's no excuse for us not having it at the state level, either," she said. "We need to revisit that."
James Haslam said the Vermont Workers' Center is collaborating with nurses at Fletcher Allen Health Care and Copley Hospital to encourage health care workers to see the film. Afterwards, the organization will try to engage them in fixing the system, he said.
VPIRG will be handing out information to movie-goers and collecting names of people who want to be informed of pending legislative action, said Paul Burns, the organization's executive director.
Burns compared "Sicko" to "An Inconvenient Truth," which "came at precisely the right time, identified the problem in a compelling way and let us know that there are solutions available today that can be implemented.
"I think in that way the Moore movie is somewhat similar," he said. "Health care is already one of the top issues in the presidential campaign. … From what I understand, ("Sicko") presents the problems in stark and compelling ways and informs viewers that there really are better and less expensive ways of dealing with the problem."
VPIRG will begin contacting people when the state Legislature and health care commissions begin holding hearings, Burns said. "Both legislative committees, in the House and in the Senate, have said that they want to hear from Vermonters, not just about the Catamount program … but what's next for Vermont. They are not satisfied. The Legislature is interested in moving forward," he said.
Winston observed that both global warming and health care are issues that are "just waiting for a catalyst for real on-the-ground, grassroots, public action. Perhaps this can be the catalyst," he said.
The movie's trailer alternates scenes of health care outrages – a woman testifying that a patient died because she, an insurance company employee, denied crucial treatment, an act that helped rather than damaged her career – with Moore's provocative comedy. After learning that the detainees at Guantanamo receive free heath care, Moore stands outside the fence at the U.S. base with a group of patients and yells: "Request permission to enter! I have three 9/11 rescue workers who just want the same kind of medical attention that the evil-doers are getting."
Winston says that although the film reportedly "has a lot of humor in it," it also has an "incredibly serious message: Who are we as a people and what does it say about us when we can't take care of our own?"
Winston hasn't seen "Sicko" yet but noted that it was "incredibly well received" at Cannes. What most people who have seen it talk about is the contrast between the care that Americans receive and the care that citizens of England, Canada, France and Cuba receive, he said, and added, "I think it's going to be an eye-opener for a lot of people."
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