Sicko

I got a chance to catch Michael Moore's Sicko. I highly recommend that everybody see this film.

Moore takes on the corrupt health care system in the U.S. in his latest venture. It's not that different from other Moore films, in that he takes on a cause talking to the little people affected by the situation like he does in his other films (unemployed auto workers in Flint, Michigan, in Roger and Me, people affected by gun violence in Bowling for Columbine). Moore asked people to send them their HMO horror stories, and in one week he got over 25, 000 stories. Some of these stories are heart wrenching, like the 22 year old woman who was denied by her health insurance company the necessary treatments needed to treat her cervical cancer, because she was too young to have cancer. Or the older couple who has to move in with their daughter because the hospital/health care bill to deal with both of their illnesses put them in so much debt, they had to sell their house. There are so many more stories, because the health care system in America is set up to profit from denying people the care they need.


Just like in his other films, Moore blends stories from the little people, stories about how the system came about because of the corrupt politicians and insurance companies, mixing the right combination of humour and emotion designed to entertain, provoke thoughts and outrage the audience.


Moore takes a look at the system in America and compares it to the health care systems around in the world, in Canada, Britain, France and Cuba. It seems that even in Cuba, with the little resources they have, they have a better health care system than in the U.S. God bless Tommy Douglas. Even though our system is not perfect, at least we don't have a mountain of debt after a hospital visit for necessary care. France has us all beat with free health care, free post secondary education, around the clock doctors who make house calls for free, lots of paid vacation time, and even free government issued nannies to new mothers a few hours a day. The interesting point one of the interview subjects makes is that France has such a great system because they are marching all the time for their rights and the government is afraid of the public, so they work to appease them. In the States, it's the opposite with everybody afraid of the government, so they let the government screw them over.

I won't give away some of the more touching moments involving three 9/11 volunteer rescue workers who were denied care by their health care insurance and the 9/11 funds. I also won't give away a rather humorous story about Moore's good Samaritan act towards one of his biggest critics. I will just say, see the movie.

More ramblings to come.....

Awesome Short Films by Aboriginal Filmmakers

Holy crap, I really suck at keeping up with this blog thing lately. I've been super busy with the kids' finishing school for the year, two projects that I'm working on with other people and my first radio story on CBC, which was pretty darn cool to do. I have seen a bunch of movies, mostly at the cheap theaters and on DVD, but I can't write about them right now, for some reason. So I will write other things, for a change.

I have a few ideas for my next project. One with the working title, "Happy Birthday", which stems from a story I told a friend about my crappy birthday date a few years ago. She thought it was very funny, and that had me thinking that maybe other people could laugh at my crappy date, too. This is a short comedy and I will begin writing the script very soon. There will be two main characters, male and female, and I already have an idea for who I want as the male. I'm taking that crappy date and adding more elements to make it more comedic. This project will be done by the end of December. I won't give much away, but it's already written in my head.

On National Aboriginal Day, I went to see the Mispon screenings of some comedy shorts from Manitoba at a Sask filmpool screening at the Royal Saskatchewan Museum. They were very good and inspired me to want to get more projects done. Pookums by Shane A. Belcourt was very well done and cute. It was about a young woman who gets a job dogsitting a very finicky dog with a very finicky owner when things go awry and wacky hijinks ensue. I also really liked Rezurrection by Keesic Douglas. It was a reality TV spoof about a young, aboriginal yuppie new age-y type couple wants to redecorate their home. They hire a pair of guys who push them out of their house Trading Spaces style and bring in a team to "rez up" their place. Funny, funny shit. See these two films if you can.

I also really got into the First Stories: Saskatchewan films. I got the pleasure of getting to know all four filmmakers, Cory Generoux (The Power of a Horse), Janine Windolph (Life Givers: Honouring our Elders and Children), P.J. Swiderski (O Mother Where Art Thou) and Tessa Desnomie (ati-wîhcasin). They had a screening on CBC that night (June 21) and on SCN right after. I highly recommend seeing this program when it runs on SCN, if you can. I love that our voices are getting out there more and more. It's all work that makes you proud to be Aboriginal, too. Of the four I could identify with Swiderski's "Oh Mother Where Art Thou" the most. He completely nailed that feeling of every kid that has been "adopted out" (interracially adopted). You love your family so much and wouldn't have changed a thing in your life, but didn't quite feel like you totally belonged. You knew they loved you as their own and it didn't matter to them that you were brown, but you were fully aware that you were different. I loved the shot of his family photo where it begins with him and zooms out to reveal he's the dark one among a sea of smiling pale faces with fair hair. I could TOTALLY relate to that. Great job and congrats to all four filmmakers. They are all people you will be hearing a lot from in the future.

First Stories will be run again on SCN and the show also includes the Manitoba First Stories, which are also excellent. I loved Lorne Olsen's Apples and Indians, a hilarious look at one aboriginal man's struggle with identity, and also Ervin Chartrand's Patrick Ross, a beautifully shot film about a young ex con's art and musings while he creates that art. See the above films if you can, I highly recommend them.

More ramblings to come......