I was a huge Mike Moore Fan, HUGE! Sent him emails of support and praise. Got on his mailing list and always responded with a thank you note for informing me of the maladies that lurk in the USA.
Then came Sicko.
Mike you've let us, The British People, down. Way down. You've sold us out for your own cause, to highlight the negatives of your own land, and it's a sad, sorry end to the last 12 years of my relationship with you - you as film maker, me as audience - because now I've gotta question everything else you've said, and I so willingly believed.
I had waited for Sicko with baited breath, preminiscing an edifying and satirical boot up the over paid behinds of those who've miss-managed the USA health systems, or the even more maniacal stock jockying over in the corrupt world of insurance which cost many innocent lives for the sake of a few dollars' profit. I'd foreseen Mike flippin' the bird to those who've hidden behind the general public's ignorance, murdering and destroying lives for money.
And so it was, the film starts great, we see the sick twisted mind of the arch US Capitalists, scheming new ways to cheat the proletariat from what he's owed. We see the evil of corrupt politics, going back as far as Nixon. We see it all in a matter of fact way because it must be true - Mike's telling us! We know Mike, we've loved him for years. He's been the fly in Bush's evil potions since he cheated and schemed his way into his job as the world's most powerful man (and if you believe he's the most powerful man, then I have some swamp land I'd like to sell ya to build on - it's guys like Mike, who can oust the likes of Bush with their films, and education of the masses.)
But then, alas and alack, Mike moves to England for a spot of like by like comparison, where everything's free and cozy and charming and easy, and people actually get paid - that's right folks, you heard me right - get paid, their expenses for visiting the hospitals. I was almost a Sicko myself by this stage! Since when are drugs free for working people? I paid £6.85 for ten tiny pills that cost less than a penny to make by some poor Cooley working in abhorrent conditions in India for less than third what he'd get if he came and did the same job in the UK. Since when do working people get expenses paid? Even to those on minimum wage?
Why Mike, WHY??? Why did you show us a maternity ward in a lovely area of Middle England/Home counties, but not show the real conditions real people have to put up??? Were your researches negating the challenges of filming in hostile conditions?
Why did you leave out telephone number sized wages for the top brass who've so badly miss-managed this shinning example of the egalitarian ideal into a sprawling mass of superbugs, while the frontline staff are on barely more than your average Macdonalds worker after 3 years at college?
Did you forget MRSA Mike? I can't, my neighbour died from it. He was relatively healthy when he went into hospital, but he came out in a pine box.
Did you forget past pay offs to the top brass, after they've messed up so badly you would trust them to scrape sprouts off the xmas dinner plates, just?
Did you forget the postcode lottery? Women dying because they live only a few miles away from where if they'd been smart enough (it is, of course, their fault) to move to before getting breast cancer, they would've been saved?
What was up with Tony Benn (a truly wonderful man, please don't get me wrong here), why didn't you tell him, Tony? Or maybe you did and a bit of creative editing took out the stuff that makes the British NHS more saleable.
Did you forget about the £8 billion set aside for negligence pay outs?
Did you forget about waiting lists for vital operations? Did you forget we also have a private sector? And, just like in The Home of The Brave and The Land of The Free, you don't wait for an operation if you've got £/$.
Or did you just forget to look into them? Did you come and spend time in the UK Health System? Trust me Mike, it sucks. But it didn't do 20 years ago. 20 years ago it was everything you said it was now.
Did you forget these things, Mike, hah? Hah?
Or did you just need to highlight to Americans how greener the grass is on the other side of the pond? Because my American chums, it simply ain't so rosey here, not if you're working class, poor and from here originally. In fact the truth is, it's a shambles. We had one of the finest health services on earth, then disastrous governments after disastrous governments killed the wonderful white dove that was once so envied.
Mike, I'm crestfallen. I believed all you had to tell me, but now I have to question the veracity of every single sentence. The last 12 years together seemed so wonderful, so inspiring, so funny and yes, made me feel affection for you, only now do I see it's all been a sham. The emails and messages I sent you (or someone pretending to be you) on myspace, and the other notes of praise, can you please return them.
You've lost a fan Mike, shame on you.
You'll have lost many more by the time the British public gets round to seeing Sicko.
I'm off to do some campaigning for Bush - he never tried to sell me lies about the NHS.
Then came Sicko.
Mike you've let us, The British People, down. Way down. You've sold us out for your own cause, to highlight the negatives of your own land, and it's a sad, sorry end to the last 12 years of my relationship with you - you as film maker, me as audience - because now I've gotta question everything else you've said, and I so willingly believed.
I had waited for Sicko with baited breath, preminiscing an edifying and satirical boot up the over paid behinds of those who've miss-managed the USA health systems, or the even more maniacal stock jockying over in the corrupt world of insurance which cost many innocent lives for the sake of a few dollars' profit. I'd foreseen Mike flippin' the bird to those who've hidden behind the general public's ignorance, murdering and destroying lives for money.
And so it was, the film starts great, we see the sick twisted mind of the arch US Capitalists, scheming new ways to cheat the proletariat from what he's owed. We see the evil of corrupt politics, going back as far as Nixon. We see it all in a matter of fact way because it must be true - Mike's telling us! We know Mike, we've loved him for years. He's been the fly in Bush's evil potions since he cheated and schemed his way into his job as the world's most powerful man (and if you believe he's the most powerful man, then I have some swamp land I'd like to sell ya to build on - it's guys like Mike, who can oust the likes of Bush with their films, and education of the masses.)
But then, alas and alack, Mike moves to England for a spot of like by like comparison, where everything's free and cozy and charming and easy, and people actually get paid - that's right folks, you heard me right - get paid, their expenses for visiting the hospitals. I was almost a Sicko myself by this stage! Since when are drugs free for working people? I paid £6.85 for ten tiny pills that cost less than a penny to make by some poor Cooley working in abhorrent conditions in India for less than third what he'd get if he came and did the same job in the UK. Since when do working people get expenses paid? Even to those on minimum wage?
Why Mike, WHY??? Why did you show us a maternity ward in a lovely area of Middle England/Home counties, but not show the real conditions real people have to put up??? Were your researches negating the challenges of filming in hostile conditions?
Why did you leave out telephone number sized wages for the top brass who've so badly miss-managed this shinning example of the egalitarian ideal into a sprawling mass of superbugs, while the frontline staff are on barely more than your average Macdonalds worker after 3 years at college?
Did you forget MRSA Mike? I can't, my neighbour died from it. He was relatively healthy when he went into hospital, but he came out in a pine box.
Did you forget past pay offs to the top brass, after they've messed up so badly you would trust them to scrape sprouts off the xmas dinner plates, just?
Did you forget the postcode lottery? Women dying because they live only a few miles away from where if they'd been smart enough (it is, of course, their fault) to move to before getting breast cancer, they would've been saved?
What was up with Tony Benn (a truly wonderful man, please don't get me wrong here), why didn't you tell him, Tony? Or maybe you did and a bit of creative editing took out the stuff that makes the British NHS more saleable.
Did you forget about the £8 billion set aside for negligence pay outs?
Did you forget about waiting lists for vital operations? Did you forget we also have a private sector? And, just like in The Home of The Brave and The Land of The Free, you don't wait for an operation if you've got £/$.
Or did you just forget to look into them? Did you come and spend time in the UK Health System? Trust me Mike, it sucks. But it didn't do 20 years ago. 20 years ago it was everything you said it was now.
Did you forget these things, Mike, hah? Hah?
Or did you just need to highlight to Americans how greener the grass is on the other side of the pond? Because my American chums, it simply ain't so rosey here, not if you're working class, poor and from here originally. In fact the truth is, it's a shambles. We had one of the finest health services on earth, then disastrous governments after disastrous governments killed the wonderful white dove that was once so envied.
Mike, I'm crestfallen. I believed all you had to tell me, but now I have to question the veracity of every single sentence. The last 12 years together seemed so wonderful, so inspiring, so funny and yes, made me feel affection for you, only now do I see it's all been a sham. The emails and messages I sent you (or someone pretending to be you) on myspace, and the other notes of praise, can you please return them.
You've lost a fan Mike, shame on you.
You'll have lost many more by the time the British public gets round to seeing Sicko.
I'm off to do some campaigning for Bush - he never tried to sell me lies about the NHS.