Sundance Tuesday, January 24

A couple of good movies today, and as usual at Sundance, they are as different as they can be.

Escape Fire: The Fight to Rescue American Healthcare

This was a documentary about our health care. It coveres several different topics. It starts out showing how many general practicioners are not able to give proper health care because they are so limited in the time they spend with patients. One subject of the documentary is a doctor who is limited to 7 mintes per patient. It doesn't matter what they are there for or how much care they need. She has to go through a certain number of patients per day. This means people are not getting the attention from their doctor that they need.

The movie also brings up our habits. We eat a bad diet and don't get enough excercise, then expect the doctors to fix whatever happens to us. Also, some doctors don't push diet and excercise enough. The movie shows a woman who had a heart condition and kept getting splints put into her arteries. When they finally start working with her to develop a healthier lifestyle, she stops having heart problems. Our bodies can heal themselves if we treat them right.

Another topic is our dependancy on drugs. There is a lot of money in medication and not so much money for acupuncture. They show soldiers injured in the middle east being flown back to Germany or the states for treatment. Before loading them up on the plane, they start them on medications to manage pain. One soldier shows a bag full of pill bottles that he was on. This leads to soldiers addicted to pain killers. The movie shows an effort to get the military to use acupuncture to control pain instead of the pills.

The movie manages to resist the impulse to be political. It shows a little bit about the health care debate and health care reform, but it doesn't take a political side. This is one of those movies that everyone should see.

Compliance

Several years ago there was a story in the news about a young girl working at McDonalds. Her manager took her into the back room and told her that she had been accused of stealing. The manager strip searched the girl. This movie is a fictionalized version of that story.

A man calls the manager at a fast food restaurant. He tells her that he is a police officer and that Becky, the pretty blonde working the counter, stole money from a customer's purse. He says the woman is there at the station and the manager needs to question Becky for him. She brings Becky in the back room and the terror begins.

It starts innocent enough, but the man on the phone keeps raising the stakes. He tells Becky and the manager that if they cooperate and help in the investigation, Becky can avoid being arrested. Becky is forced to strip and then be searched by the manager. Then things get really creepy.

The manager's defense is that she believed the man was a cop. He had an answer for every one of her questions and concerns. Watching the movie, it is hard to believe that no one at the restaurant puts a stop to this. No one suggests getting the cop's name and badge number and calling him back.

The movie is very disturbing, but it is an interesting story. It's a good cautionary story for anyone in a position of management.