Michael Moore's SiCKO premieres, reviews

The long-expected assault on the US health care system, and the pharmaceutical sector in particular, by activist filmmaker Michael Moore, has been launched with the premiere at the Cannes Film Festival of his latest movie, SiCKO. It is perhaps surprising that the movie's release was timed to coincide with the festival, in the South of France, considering that a campaigning effort by Mr Moore might have had greater effect in the run-up to the presidential primary campaign in early 2008.

According to The Times' film critic, Mr Moore claims that 47 million US citizens have no medical insurance, the creation of a National Health Service in the USA was allegedly blocked by the disgraced Republican President Richard Nixon. As a result of this "conspiracy" one patient had to sew on his knee cap, while another had to choose which severed finger he can afford to have reattached.

As far as the drug industry is concerned, the major complaint appears to be that "greedy" firms are allowed to set prices, while insurers and physicians are recorded allegedly refusing medical treatment for the flimsiest of pretexts. Initial public reactions were positive, although the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) vice president Ken Johnson claims the movie is not on the group's "top 10 list of concerns."