Sicko: Rhetorical Analysis - Movie Review Example

no. “Sicko Rhetorical Analysis Access to quality healthcare services is a basic right of every individual regardless of their financial status. For this reason, many countries, especially developed countries, have instituted measures to ensure that all citizens can easily access healthcare services. The United States, however, according to Mooredoes not fall under the category of countries whose citizens can freely access healthcare, with or without insurance (2007). According to Moore, the healthcare system of the United States is corrupt and broken, needs to be replaced with a more suitable system. “Sicko” a 2007 film by Michael Moore generally focuseson the Americanhealthcare system, and with special emphasis on the health insurancesystem, and shows how this system affects the average American. As a documentary set in contemporary times, Sicko examines the state of the American healthcare system in comparison to other countries. As areflective film, the main focus is on the performance of the American government in terms of providing its citizens with affordable healthcare services. The film aims at elucidating how dismally the American healthcare system performs, as compared to the universal system of providing healthcare services used in Cuba, Canada, Britain, and France (Bernstein 226). The film is characterized by several interviewswith people who have been turned away by healthcare providers and abandoned by insurance companiesin times when they urgently needed medical services. The intended audience for the documentary is the American population, particularly adults capable of understanding the consequences of having an inefficient healthcare system. The intention is to make the viewer, especially the American viewer, very scared of what would happen to them under the current healthcare systemif they were in urgent need of medical services. The film moves from the general idea of the American healthcare system being inefficient to actually showing real life situations of people who have suffered under the current system. Moore uses the experiences shared by ordinary people in the film to convince the American population that there are alternatives to the current healthcare system, for example, the systems in France, Britain, and Canada. For instance, Moore uses emotional appeal to convince the audience in the case where a man is forced to choose one of his two severely injured fingers, because his insurance is not enough to cover the cost of saving both fingers (2007). In another case, Moore is onboard a ship in which a woman who was a 9/11 volunteer is going to Cuba to get inhaler medication that costs five cents in Cuba per month, yet the cost in the united states is $240 (ibid). Moore himself is actively involved in making the audience realize how scared they should be about their health. Moore is an accomplished storyteller whose tone and general methods of communication, including the non-verbal gestures convince the audience that the situation in the healthcare industry is indeed wanting. Moore’s personality as a bold enough person to take the rescue workers of the 9/11 to Cuba, particularly Guantanamo bay for treatment in an effort to show how even the Cubans have better healthcare services than Americans, is enough to make the viewer concerned about the issues being addresses (Bernstein 227). Additionally, as the film ends, Moore taking a basketful of clothes to the United States Capitol so that the government can do his laundry in the meantime before measures are instituted to adequately care for the sick people in the country. American system of providing healthcare services is broken and in need of an alternativeideally the socialized, universal healthcare system, according to Moore (2007). Both the insured and uninsured suffer under the healthcare system currently being used in the United States. While those who are uninsured are denied access to healthcare services, those insured are restricted by clause such as “pre-existing” conditions. The sorry state of the American healthcare system as narrated by Moore was caused by political ideologies, such as President Nixon regarding the sector as a profit-making venture. In a recorded conversation, John Ehrlichman tells President Nixon that “the less care they give them, the more money they make”, to which the president responds “not bad” (Moore 2007). To make his point, Moore gives statistics showing that Americans have lower a lower life expectancy rate than most countries, with the highest infant mortality rate among developed countries. According to Moore data from the World Health Organization shows that the United States ranks 37 out of 191 countries (ibid). In dismissing critics of the universal healthcare system, Moore according to Bernstein cites the examples of public education within the United States, fire services, and the United States Postal Service as some of the socialized public services that have greatly improved the lives of ordinary citizens (224). In this sense, it would, therefore, be obnoxious to claim that the socialization of the healthcare system through the introduction of the universal system would lead to communism. The film is meant to make Americans realize that they deserve a better healthcare system than the one currently in place. Essentially, if the current system was overhauled and a proper incorruptible one put in place, then all Americans would afford to be covered and pay considerably less for healthcare services. Ideally, what Moore is proposing is the universal healthcare system that has proved to be efficient in countries such as Britain and Canada, especially in raising life expectancies, and lowering infant mortalities in these countries. In general, Sicko addresses the status of the American healthcare system using facts and real life experiences of average Americans. The documentary makes it clear that the American for-profit system is an oppression tool to the society, and that the universal healthcare system that has succeeded in Britain, Cuba, France, and Canada is the best alternative. With the latter system in place, all citizens, insured or not, will be able to access basic healthcare services. Moore defense of the “socialized” universal healthcare system is credible considering that American citizens have already benefitted from other socialized services such as public education. In essence, the universal healthcare system is the only solution to the current predicament of the American healthcare system. Works cited Bernstein, Matthew. Michael Moore: Filmmaker, Newsmaker, Cultural Icon. Michigan: University Of Michigan Printing Press. 2010. Print. Sicko. Dir. Moore Michael. Dog Eat Dog Films, 2007. DVD. Read More