I reluctantly went to see the new Michael Moore film, "SiCKO" today.

Miss Significantly Other and I took in a matinée show at one of those God-awful bazillion-screen theaters at a local "Lifestyle Center" (nee, "shopping mall").

First, an aside: I HATE HATE HATE these huge theater complexes! Holy shit! We could have gone to a small, neighborhood-type theater over in the University District here in town but Miss S.O. thought that parking would be such a bitch that we decided to go way the fart up to Lynnwood.

From the outside, the damn theater looks like some kind of weird religious temple (the irony is not lost on me)! The damn theater has sixteen screens! The damn theater has a snack counter that could feed Bolivia! The damn theater has specially trained Malamutes equipped with GPS units that rove the labyrinthine halls to help you find your screen! The damn theater shows commercials on the screen before the movies starts! The damn theater shows commercials on the screen before the movie starts that advertise grinning chiropractors who practice out of strip malls! Gah!

And the god damned VOLUME IS TOO LOUD! I'm deaf and I didn't even need the assistive listening device to watch the movie. THAT, my finely-feathered friend, is too LOUD!

OK. On to the actual movie.

Michael Moore is fat. He's also not very good-looking. He's rather slovenly and rudely wears ball caps just about everywhere (but always upon his head, you dork).

The man has, however, made a pretty damn good movie about health care.

I only went to see this movie because a local reviewer had said that it wasn't bleatingly partisan. The reviewer also said that parts of the movie were funny (which, I gather, is how MM used to make his films back in the day and of some interest to me since I am occasionally funny myself). The same reviewer said that Moore stuck it to Hillary and, hey, who doesn't want to pay money to see that?

What I got (in addition to some good Hillary-sticking) was a rather one-sided (duh) look at the health care apparatus of America, Canada, England, France and Cuba.

What we find is that, In America, we really don't have any of that much-vaunted "choice" in medical coverage that we hear about. For those of us who have coverage, our policies are almost exclusively determined by our employers (or unions). Our level of care is determined by those policies and the insurance companies will work as hard as they possibly can to deny coverage - and save themselves money - in spite of the policies.

For the 50 million Americans who don't have medical insurance, their level of care is determined by how much cash or credit they have.

We also find that Canada, England, France and even Cuba provide health care to all of their citizens "free of charge". This isn't true, of course, because each citizen with a job pays taxes that support their care as well as the care of others.

What I liked most about the movie, was how it portrayed the culture in these other countries.

This Canadian fellow snapped a tendon in his arm while on vacation in Florida and, rather than pay the thousands of dollars he was quoted at the American hospital to reattach his bicep, he went back to Canada and had it done. Moore asked him how he felt about paying taxes to support the health care of others rather than "taking care of himself" and he said, 'Well, they'd do the same for me."

This French couple only makes a bout $8,000 a month. They have a beautiful home, two children and a minimum of five weeks of mandatory paid vacation each year. The woman collects sand from places I can't afford to vacation in on my $28K a year wage.

This English doctor makes $160,000 a year, drives an Audi, is married with a child, lives in a nice home in a good neighborhood and gets bonuses that aren't based upon how many claims for coverage he denies or how many patients he can cram into his day, but upon how healthy his patients become while in his care.

I'm leaving the Cubans out of this because you have to see the movie to appreciate what happens. All I will say about that part is that I had to wipe tears from my eyes and I never thought I'd say that after a Michael Moore movie unless it was from laughing at him.

Yes, the movie is one-sided. Yes, Moore doesn't get into the cost in taxes to the people in these other countries. No, he doesn't tell any horror stories from the countries with nationalized care.

But he asks a very important question: Who are we?

When farmer Brown's barn burns down, aren't we there to help him raise a new one? Don't we then expect he'll be over to help us when we need it?

After 9/11, didn't we band together as one people? Didn't we rise to the terror and the death in magnificent unity and gather the broken and weary into our arms?

The Canadian fellow from above, the fellow with the blown tendon, said something pretty profound. When Moore asked him why people would put up with paying for the coverage of others he said, "We take care of each other."

While talking about the work vs. leisure culture in France with a group of Americans living in Paris, one woman explained the relationship between the French government and the French people to Moore. She said, "In France, the government is afraid of the people. In America, the people are afraid of the government."

Who are we? Do we not take care of each other in this country? And if our government is by and for the people, why do we fear it so?

Go see SiCKO. Go with an open mind but don't go gullible. I think you'll be glad you went.