"Who Are We?"
Length of Film Clip: 5 mins
Written By: Adrian De Guia
In this scene, Moore attempts to evoke an emotional response from the audience. He exposes the way hospital treats their patients when they can’t pay for their hospital bill. The hospitals dump the unlucky patients in front of a homeless shelter so that they can be someone else’s problem. Moore shows security footage of a patient being forced out of a taxi cab while still dressed in a hospital gown. The disoriented women walks around struggling to comprehend where she is. As the footage rolls, somber orchestral music plays in the background. All of these elements formulated together are aimed to evoke a sympathetic emotion out of the audience. By isolating the subject to the one disoriented lady walking around helplessly, Moore is able to make the audience focus entirely on her which allows for a much greater chance of a emotional response. As the scene progresses, the Executive Vice President of the Hospital Association of Southern California, James Lott, explains that they try to find place to send the patients who can’t pay their bill because letting them walk out the front door is inhumane. By incorporating this scene, Moore is able to challenge their practices as inhumane as well. The scene depicts Lott as not acknowledging that dumping a helpless patient in need of treatment at a place that could help them as an inhumane action. The scene then goes on to show another victim of a hospital throwing them to the curb. The women was suffering from a broken neck, broken ribs, a broken leg, and healing stitches around her face. Moore points out that she was thrown out of hospital owned by the University of California, “one of the richest schools in America.” By including the fact that the University of California, one of the richest schools, owned the hospital, Moore is able to indirectly criticize their actions and intentions. How could they deny someone who is obvious need of medical treatment because they could not afford their medical bill when they have all this money to spare? This concept of having the resource and money to treat people who can’t afford health care arises again when Moore interviews the Cuban doctor, Adleida Guevara. Moore than asks the question “Who are we?” and states that he thought the American people were good and generous. This question is intended to get the audience to rethink the way that they view American society. The good and generous caring people that we perceive ourselves and our fellow Americans to be may not be true and Moore is able to bring that to light with this scene.