US film-maker Moore praises NHS
CANNES 2007
Film-maker Michael Moore extols the virtues of the British NHS in his new documentary on the failings of US healthcare.
The controversial film-maker is under investigation by US authorities for his new documentary, Sicko, which scrutinises the American system of private insurance.
The first showing was screened at the Cannes Film Festival today, with some critics already hailing Sicko as more mature than his other works.
Moore visits Britain, France and Canada in the film and takes US citizens to Guantanamo Bay to see how inmates at the prison camp get better healthcare than 9/11 volunteers in the US.
The documentary maker, who won the Palme d'Or in 2004 with Fahrenheit 9/11, says he made a duplicate of his film, which he "smuggled" out of the US, in case authorities confiscate the original over his decision to film in Cuba.
He said he could now face the prospect of jail.
Moore told a press conference, following today's screening, that the US private healthcare insurance system, which leaves nearly 50 million US citizens without provision, was "barbaric".
He added: "My thinking in travelling around the world is that what we should do as Americans is what we always do, just steal the best things from your system and not the things which are done wrong. Then call it the American system."
Moore said he had toned down his style from his earlier more confrontational films.
He said: "I decided to make a different film this time. I wanted a different tone to the film and to say things in a different way. Certainly one reason is that I don't want the audience thinking that as long as Michael goes and beats up the chairman of the corporation we can sit here and cheer him on."
In his last film, Fahrenheit 9/11, he accosted members of the US Congress to ask them to enlist their sons and daughters in the Iraq war.
He said: "I was thinking about that after Fahrenheit 9/11 and I decided to think about that whole concept of the audience living through the screen vicariously. Change will only happen if people rise up out of their theatre seats and call for action, not for Michael Moore to go out and do it but for the public to go out and do it.
"I'm tired of all the yelling and screaming and not getting anywhere. I don't want to be a participant in that. I would rather throw my lot down with the majority of Americans who know something is wrong and want things to change."
After finding that travel expenses can be reimbursed in one London NHS hospital, Moore remarks that "instead of money coming into British hospitals money comes out".
He also interviews former Labour MP Tony Benn.
In another moment in the film, Moore took patients, including 9/11 volunteers, by boat to Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, shouting from a loudhailer "they just want the same medical attention as al-Qa'eda gets."
When they could not get into the naval base, he takes them to Havana where the patients are overwhelmed to be getting free treatment.
In the film, he also sends a 12,000 US dollar (£6,079) cheque anonymously to one of the authors of an anti-Michael Moore website, after the website closes down because the man cannot afford to run it while paying for his wife's medical bills.
Moore said he was going to phone the man, who put his site back online after getting the money, to tell him he sent the cheque, today.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;jsessionid=1XUXQD1S02OQVQFIQMGCFGGAVCBQUIV0?xml=/news/2007/05/19/nmoore119.xml美國籍紀錄片導演麥可摩爾(Michael Moore)的最新作品【窮人無健保】(Sicko)，19日在坎城影展獲得正面迴響，不過這部紀錄片的內容抨擊了美國的健保制度，遭到了美國保守派政治人物的批評，甚至還招致美國政府調查，可能因此使摩爾被判罰款或坐牢。
曾經批評布希政府的導演，麥可摩爾又有最新作品了，他以一貫幽默諷刺的手法，鍥而不捨地揭露事實真相，這次他抨擊的對象是美國的健保制度，在這部紀錄片中的一名勞工把自己兩根手指頭給鋸斷了，這名勞工瑞克問：「我完全沒有保險，這到底會花我多少錢？」
醫師給他兩個選擇，接回中指要美金6萬元，接回無名指要美金1萬2000元，瑞克妻子說：「人的身體竟然有標價，真是可怕的感覺！」
摩爾為了拍攝這部紀錄片，今年2月帶著一群患病的911事件救難人員，前往古巴尋求當地醫療機構協助，由於美國公民不得未經申請，就擅自前往古巴，美國政府已經對摩爾展開調查，摩爾可能因此被判罰款或坐牢，對此，摩爾感到相當不以為然。
麥可摩爾說：「我的所作所為都是因為製片需要，任何製片者都不應該需要擔心會被罰錢或是坐牢，哪裡可以去哪裡不可以去，真是太荒唐了！」
麥可摩爾的作品向來以揭露事實真相聞名，3年前的【華氏911】也是極具爭議、引人省思的紀錄片，內容審視美國總統布希在911恐怖攻擊事件發生前後的行為，他的最新作品【窮人無健保】預計6月底將在美國上映。
http://salonmedia.vo.llnwd.net/o1/mp3s/2007/may/Cannes_07_OHehir_Moore.mp3
