Feds launch probe of Michael Moore’s Cuba visit for film

By Lagan Sebert

HOLLYWOOD, CA (Hollywood Today) 5/10/07 – Like Michael Moore’s last film, “Fahrenheit 9/11,” “Sicko” will premiere at the Cannes Film Festival surrounded by headlines and controversy. Federal officials are investigating Moore on charges of illegal travel to Cuba, during filming of his latest feature.

“Sicko” is Moore’s take on the current U.S. health care system. The film will undoubtedly be critical of the current U.S. health system. The issue in question with the Feds stems from a part of the film where Moore traveled to Cuba in order to compare the poverty stricken country’s health care system with our own.

Due to a travel embargo in place since 1962, US citizens are not allowed to travel to the country, which sits 90 miles south southern Florida, without special approval. Moore reportedly applied for a visa, as a working Journalist. The recent probe by the U.S. Treasury Department suggests that his application was denied.

In Cuba, citizens benefit from universal health care, and there is actually a surplus of doctors. Cuban doctors travel the world often supplementing other countries health care systems. In what many interpreted as a snide gesture Castro offered to ship Cuban doctors to New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, because of the health care shortage in the region.

Michael Moore has made a career out of exposing flaws in conservative political leadership. Disney refused to release his last film “Fahrenheit 9/11″, a film where Moore ruthlessly derided the Bush administration. “Fahrenheit 9/11″ sat in limbo until the Weinstein Brothers eventually released the film themselves. With Moore, controversy always precedes and fuels his projects, however Moore may actually face legal action this time.

Meghan O’Hara, the producer of “SiCKO,” said the investigation was politically motivated. When dealing with Michael Moore there is little that is not politically motivated. As the film is set to make its premiere, Moore has secured a print of the film internationally in order to ensure its safety. All of this publicity, regardless of the outcome of the investigations will undoubtedly lead to a fervent buzz that Moore had hoped for with his latest premiere.