Michael Moore to turn guns on US health system

[Guest guest]

http://film.guardian.co.uk/news/story/0,12589,1248551,00.html

 

Moore to turn guns on US health system

 

Vanessa Thorpe and Gavin Smith in New York

Sunday June 27, 2004

The Observer

 

Micahel Moore, whose controversial awarding-winning

attack on the Bush regime, Fahrenheit 9/11, opens in

Britain on 9 July, has revealed that he is to turn his

camera on healthcare in the United States.

 

The director and author will attempt to save as many

lives as he can by simply intervening with his camera

crew during the course of 90 minutes of filming. He

hopes to embarrass health insurance companies and

hospitals into continuing to care for patients with no

cover - highlighting holes in the American system.

 

It will be a deliberate reversal of Moore's decision

to stay largely off screen in Fahrenheit 9/11 , the

documentary in which he shows illicitly obtained

footage of Bush off guard in the White House and of

disillusioned soldiers in Iraq.

 

He believes the intrusion of a hand-held camera will

be more effective than conventional protests against

insurance groups and chain hospitals that 'abuse and

beat down' poorer patients. 'I thought, " What if we

constructed a film where we could see how many lives

we could save in 90 minutes, moving as fast as we can,

and our only weapon is the camera " ?'

 

Moore said he had the idea when making his TV show,

The Awful Truth, shown in Britain on Channel 4. 'We

had this guy who was going to die because his HMO

[insurers] wouldn't pay for his transplant so we went

with him and conducted a funeral rehearsal,' said

Moore. 'The HMO was ashamed and paid for the

transplant and he lives to this day.'

 

News that the US health service is Moore's new target

will be a relief to two groups which had been touted

as likely to be next in his sights. It was rumoured

Tony Blair's government was Moore's latest subject,

but at the Cannes Film Festival - where he won the

coveted Palme d'Or - Moore indicated he wanted to look

at Disney. He had fallen foul of the entertainment and

leisure empire when they pulled out of the

distribution of Fahrenheit 9/11 at the last minute.

 

 

 

Interview with Michael Moore

04.10.2003: The capped crusader

 

Profile: Michael Moore

03.10.2003: A man on a message

 

Factfile

03.10.2003: Ten things you never knew about Michael

Moore

 

Useful links

Official Michael Moore website

Dog Eat Dog Films

Bowling For Columbine

Fahrenheit 9/11