"Sicko"
Directed by: Michael Moore

Rated: PG-13 (for brief adult language)

Running time: 112 minutes

Best suited for: those who suspect insurance companies, HMOs and medical healthcare in general is broken. And especially for those who don't suspect it (but probably should)

Least suited for: the shareholders of said corporations

Michael Moore, I forgive you.

"Sicko" is the type of film that results when a filmmaker removes the venom and malicious intent and replaces it with at least the presumption of earnest documentary intent. My abhorrence with Mr. Moore's previous effort, "Fahrenheit 9/11," wasn't that the film was liberal or conservative or left-wing or right-wing, but rather that it was a personal political agenda, deliberate propaganda masquerading as documentary.

But now that Michael Moore is back rattling social cages, am I'm blinded to his tactics? Do I consider Mr. Moore the great American documentarian? Not really. But I do believe this kinder, gentler Mr. Moore, having left personal vendetta aside, has transformed into a potentially great social-awareness pundit- a filmactivist- and though his tactics may be somewhat flamboyant, I believe his intent to be genuine.

"Sicko" is a disturbing peek inside America's politically profitable, greed-driven medical health system. I believe there's a fine line between capitalism and greed in this country, and I suspect this nasty "greedilism" has begun consuming the U.S. It's not a matter of the rich getting richer; it's a matter of the rich becoming far more blasé about this nation's notion of equality.

No doubt, healthcare in this country is broken. It's worse than broken. It's for sale, and the price in human suffering is horrific. The system is killing the people who can't afford the system or who can't find their way in. It brings to mind an almost Hitleresque notion of some new age "final solution": Let's just eliminate the problem.

I believe "Sicko" to be a cinematic red flag, far more disturbing perhaps than what even Michael Moore intended. In that regard, I view "Sicko" as a mustsee film. Placed side by side with Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth," I find "Sicko" far more powerful."Sicko" may in fact just be the most socially important film of the year.

Is Michael Moore grandstanding? Of course he is. When he shows us idyllic life in France, in England, in Canada and even the better-than-HMO care among Al Qaeda prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, is he being as utterly honest as he possibly can? No. Nor is his interviewing Che Guevara's daughter (that magnificent healthcare specialist) particularly relevant in this case. But otherwise, Moore is making a point, and making it deftly.

Anyone who's suffered at the hands of a forprofit healthcare corporation knows how frustrating dealing with such a fumbling, bumbling corporate monster can become. Even those of us who are covered must sometimes jump through impossible hoops to rectify a problem. If, like me, you thought it was just an occasional snafu, a case of bad luck that occurs only rarely, "Sicko" will change your mind on that notion too. The problem is prevalent. I suspect this film may shock a good many people.

The United States currently ranks 38th in the World Health Organization's (WHO) ranking of healthcare systems. That's not a fabricated Moore statistic, that's a fact. (See www.photius.com/ rankings/healthranks.html.)

The French, who rank first on the same list, drink more wine, smoke more cigarettes and consume more pastry than the average American. Most pay virtually nothing for a hospital visit and barely anything for medications. There are no restrictions, no obligations, few conditions. The poor, the homeless receive the same care as the wealthy and influential. Frankly, that's what I thought America was all about.

This doesn't mean I'm running off to Paris any time soon, but the fact that the United States ranks just below Costa Rica and above Slovenia by WHO standards might be worth consideration. I think "Sicko" is worth consideration too. It just might change your point of view. In this case, that's probably a good thing.

Oh, and for true biography buffs, might I suggest the upcoming "No End In Sight" (the film that "Fahrenheit 9/11" should have been, but wasn't) and the visually stunning "Manufactured Landscapes." Both are exceptional, and pundit free.