Matthew Heineman and Susan Frömke's documentary tackles a familiar topic but doesn't weigh in on the Obamacare issue so contentious in the upcoming election. It's more a condemnation of the US health system in general, like Michael Moore's Sicko, sans the self-aggrandizing. Instead it breaks down the problems into comprehensible issues, addressing concerns like the denial of treatment, the proliferation of unnecessary procedures conducted for profit, the link between fast foods and obesity, and the influence of big pharma and the insurance companies in the prescribing of unnecessary medication. The film poses the Canadian system and the use of alternative medicine as potential remedies, and backs its points with interviews of disillusioned industry insiders. As for the title, it refers to the tactic of fighting fire with fires used to contain forest conflagrations, suggesting that something equally drastic is needed to deal with this crisis.
