Travelling throughout the Québecois countryside, Céline Baril presents the thoughts and observations of a wide variety of local points of view in her documentary La théorie du tout. The countryside is indirectly compared to a musical instrument that needs to be played in order to maintain its jaunty fluidity. Providing work for rural areas enables them to similarly maintain their communal vitality. But over production and obsessions with continually increasing profits have decimated resources that could have indefinitely supported them.
Changing technologies are lamented as a worker who has spent decades operating a specific machine must learn a new set of skills.
A young adult attached to her town wants to stay but her journalistic ambitions leave her with few employment opportunities.
Some individuals adapt and move from one industry to another as mining rejuvenates a struggling economy.
An ominous sense of anxiety pervades thoughts concerning the future of various fisheries as overflowing populations have been reduced to a fraction of their former plenitude.
The emphasis on providing rural workers/job seekers/small business owners/ . . . with the chance to voice their ideas and share their knowledge establishes a bucolic social democratic aesthetic which modestly illustrates sustainable development alternatives to the rapacious bottom line of 'moving forward' capitalists (without using the phrase).
A lot of people don't want to leave the town where they grew up or have lived and worked for most their lives. Sustainable development offers them with symphonic methodologies to orchestrate their futures along harmonic pastoral lines possessing environmentally sound melodies.
Showing posts with label Profit. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Profit. Show all posts
Friday, April 6, 2012
Thursday, November 27, 2008
Sicko
Michael Moore's new film Sicko presents a critical examination of American Health Care. The style Moore employs is similar to that found in his other films, simultaneously tragic and comedic. If you haven't seen the film the following contains spoilers regarding its ending.
I for one am in complete agreement with Moore's message. While I haven't researched the subject vigorously, and know that universal health care systems are expensive, these expenses maximize a population’s health without supplying it with any significantly increased financial burdens. The picture Moore paints of the state of the American Health Care system is grim to say the least; grim isn't really the right word to be using here, but it seems as if American HMO's are much more concerned with maximizing profits than taking care of the sick. Since I've grown up with universal health care, trying to imagine what it’s like living in a country where access to medical care is a burden upon those responsible for its delivery is difficult, and witnessing the stories Moore showcases within is frankly revolting, especially since America is such a diverse, wealthy country.
But points regarding health care aside, the rest of this piece is about Michael Moore the filmmaker. In the end of Sicko, Moore makes a monumental move that instantly reminded me of Werner Herzog's commitment within Fitzcarraldo, Moore's move resonating with inspired political audacity, Herzog's with ideal artistic integrity. We don't know how they arrive there, but during his research Moore discovers that the prisoners at Guantanamo Bay are receiving first rate health care free of charge, and decides to travel there with several sick Americans, some of them rescue workers from ground zero, 9/11, who have no health insurance. After they are denied access to Guantanamo, Moore decides to seek assistance within Cuba where he is greeted warmly (apparently prescription drugs that cost 120 dollars in the States can be purchased in Cuba for 3.2 pesos). Moore's examination of the Cuban Health Care System and the ways in which he gallantly includes them within his film (at great risk to his own personal freedom back home I'm sure) is an act worthy of sincere applause. What balls!
I for one am in complete agreement with Moore's message. While I haven't researched the subject vigorously, and know that universal health care systems are expensive, these expenses maximize a population’s health without supplying it with any significantly increased financial burdens. The picture Moore paints of the state of the American Health Care system is grim to say the least; grim isn't really the right word to be using here, but it seems as if American HMO's are much more concerned with maximizing profits than taking care of the sick. Since I've grown up with universal health care, trying to imagine what it’s like living in a country where access to medical care is a burden upon those responsible for its delivery is difficult, and witnessing the stories Moore showcases within is frankly revolting, especially since America is such a diverse, wealthy country.
But points regarding health care aside, the rest of this piece is about Michael Moore the filmmaker. In the end of Sicko, Moore makes a monumental move that instantly reminded me of Werner Herzog's commitment within Fitzcarraldo, Moore's move resonating with inspired political audacity, Herzog's with ideal artistic integrity. We don't know how they arrive there, but during his research Moore discovers that the prisoners at Guantanamo Bay are receiving first rate health care free of charge, and decides to travel there with several sick Americans, some of them rescue workers from ground zero, 9/11, who have no health insurance. After they are denied access to Guantanamo, Moore decides to seek assistance within Cuba where he is greeted warmly (apparently prescription drugs that cost 120 dollars in the States can be purchased in Cuba for 3.2 pesos). Moore's examination of the Cuban Health Care System and the ways in which he gallantly includes them within his film (at great risk to his own personal freedom back home I'm sure) is an act worthy of sincere applause. What balls!
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