Jamie passion and passionfruit!

Moving house and lots of work has meant I neglected the blog for a while.  The resolution for 2008 is to find a bit more time to dedicate to films and to this record of what I have seen. 2007 overviews will follow soon.

And to kick off 2008 I have just watched Sicko, the latest Michael Moore film on the dreadful state of the US health care service completely at the mercy of big business and government and obsessed with cost cutting and in fact denying health care.  The nature of the business now seems to be sell insurance, sell drugs but pay out as little as you can.

Now we know Moore is not subtle nor does he present an even handed view of his topics.  He tends to villify his enemies and paint the positive side with a rosy glow which is far from universally true.  Here, he makes other health systems like Cuba and Britain seem like paradise when they clearly aren't.  Nevertheless, the points he makes are very valid and he gives us examples a plenty to make us think that something needs investigation.  Moore gives us the broad brush outrage and a little whimsy like the taking of 9/11 heroes turned health care victims to Cuba to get better treatment than in the US.  He makes his points and well, even if you may dislike his style and the pastiche style of film making can be a little wearing.

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