For some, it came as no surprise that “Sicko,” Michael Moore’s latest film and critical look at America’s healthcare system, got strong reviews at The Cannes Film Festival. What else would you expect from Europe’s lefty intelligentsia? Then there was this little curveball. The right-leaning Fox News also called the film “brilliant and uplifting.” How likely is that? The odds are next to zero. But it happened, and it says something rather extraordinary about the film. (You can watch the trailer for the movie on your iPod here.)
In the meantime, Google has gotten itself into a bit of a PR debacle with the release of Sicko. Last week, a Google employee took the position on a Google healthcare blog that “Moore’s film portrays the industry as money and marketing driven, and fails to show healthcare’s interest in patient well-being and care.” And then she invited the healthcare industry to use Adwords, the company’s money-raking ad platform, to showcase for the public all the good that they do for us. When Google got the inevitable blowback, the corporate PR folks kicked things into gear. Soon enough, we were told that the Google employee had been speaking out of turn and they released an addendum on their main corporate blog, which says something and yet nothing at the same time. Where does Google really stand on the issue? Who knows. They’re playing things predictably safe, and that’s to be expected when your company stands to generate billions of ad revenue from a multi-trillion dollar industry. Meanwhile where does Fox stand on all of this (and I am talking about the company, rather than the individual film reviewer cited above)? Probably nowhere good.
Below, you can find Michael Moore talking with Bill Maher (HBO) about the healthcare problem that cuts across the political divide. Give it a good look, but better yet, go see the movie.
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