Applause greets Moore's latest controversy

US film-maker Michael Moore has unveiled his latest attack on America's shortcomings at Cannes with Sicko, a scathing documentary that exposes the dark side of the US health system and its powerful insurance lobby.

The film has been warmly received after it played to a packed-out crowd in the film festival's biggest, 2,000-seat theatre.

In Sicko, Moore flays a health system that leaves 50 million Americans with no access to medical care and pulls the rug out from under many of those who mistakenly think they are covered properly.

The documentary fires off side shots at US President George W Bush in the follow-up to the September 11, 2001 attacks and the Iraq war, all subjects of predilection for Moore, who won Cannes's Palme d'Or in 2004 for Fahrenheit 9/11.

This time, Moore has landed in hot water for a stunt in Sicko in which he takes a group of ailing September 11 emergency workers to Cuba, where they receive medical treatment.

The US Government has opened a probe into the trip, which potentially breaches its laws restricting US citizens from visiting the communist island.

"I don't know why the Bush administration is taking this action," Moore told journalists after the screening.

"It's hard to get into their heads about why they do anything... This is an administration that flaunts the law, flaunts the constitution."

Moore says the Government investigation prompted him to make a digital copy of the film and to stash it outside the US, out of fear authorities might seize Sicko and prevent it being shown.

"The point was not to go to Cuba, it was to go to American soil, to Guantanamo Bay and to take 9/11 rescue workers there to receive the same medical care given to the Al Qaeda detainees," he said.

The group does not enter the Guantanamo US military base and instead gets good care from Cuban doctors in a hospital.

Moore also heads to other countries - Canada, Britain and France - to show how their national state-run health systems, often derided as "socialist" in the US, offer a far superior level of care than the American one.

Profits

The documentary argues that the problem in America is that private Health Maintenance Organisations run the system and they do so by limiting coverage and payments, and by "buying off" politicians.

"They are legally required to maximise profits for their shareholders," Moore said.

He says he fears any reform that might come in under a new president could simply end up putting "tax dollars in the hands of private companies".

Moore says the real solution is to use what works in other western countries.

Asked whether he was prepared for a potential backlash from the deep-pocketed US medical insurance companies, Moore has admitted "they may be a scarier force than Karl Rove or George Bush" but added: "It is my profound hope that people will listen to this film".

The film-maker says he declined to have his film shown in the line-up vying for the Palme d'Or this year.

"I already have the Palme d'Or. What do I want? Another Palme d'Or?" he asked.

Moore who also picked up an Oscar for his 2002 documentary Bowling for Columbine.

- AFP