During the trial of Luigi Mangione, much of the coverage was focused on three women called the Mangionistas: Whether they are extremists, whether they should have press passes, whether they are simply bubbleheaded fangirls swooning over an objectively hot alleged killer. But much of the sensationalist, often sexist coverage has obscured the deeper issues that the murder of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson has pushed to the surface: The fact that in a nation as wealthy as the U.S., citizens are regularly dying or, at best, going into debt, due to the exorbitant cost of healthcare—and will, as of next year, be left even more vulnerable thanks to Trump's Medicaid cuts, which threaten coverage for nearly a million New Yorkers and institute work requirements to obtain basic coverage.
"Bigger Than Luigi," Miléna Mikael-Debass's short documentary showing this week at DOC NYC, hones in on this topic so cogently it's a feat that the Emmy-winning director was able to fit so much in its 16-minute runtime, capturing snapshots of the lives of four people from the demonstrations outside Mangione's hearings in lower Manhattan. There is Shane, an ER doctor whose activism extends beyond the City courthouse to Albany, where he advocates for single-payer healthcare system and rallies at the state legislature to pass the New York Health Act; Breigh, a paralegal and true-crime fan from Philadelphia who is adamant about Mangione's right to a fair trial; Jonni, an activist and organizer who lost his brother due to inadequate healthcare; and Celeste, an Italian American New Yorker and grad student with a similar spinal affliction to Mangione.