Where to Invade Next

This is one of Michael Moore's best documentaries. It tackles many of the issues that are relevant in America's current socio-political climate (healthcare, paid leave, education, mass incarceration, drugs) but without the usual flashy, confrontational gimmicks that we have come to associate with Michael Moore. Instead, he simply takes us on a learning tour to other countries that have come up with wildly successful solutions to these issues. We have all these prime examples of programs that actually work, yet somehow, here in America, socialism is still a dirty word, so we insist on more of the same failed policies despite all the data proving otherwise because we refuse to accept that somebody other than America got it right. If you're like me (brimming with cynicism in the abyss of absolute hopelessness for this country), it's at least nice to be reminded of what is possible.

What if the United States invaded other countries not in order to control people, but to learn from them?! Moore, in a mostly positive yet still humorous, sarcastic and witty bent, leads the charge into other countries. He liberates many brilliant and counter-intuitive strategies for success. It is shocking, even to people who think they know these strategies already.

The invasion of Italy comes first. Here we see that the clash between the company and the well-being of its employees, in pay, vacation, family health and more, is a total fallacy. Kids in Finland have no standardized tests, no private schools and even no homework. Kids are treated with respect, like adults really, and have more time to play and be kids. And yet Finland is no slouch when it comes to education and in fact they lead the world here. In France kids are provided with healthy school lunches that we consider gourmet, yet for the French it is just a decent meal. Germany and its companies support a strong middle class by providing all workers with great pay and lots of vacation time. This is so even with less hours worked per week. Companies even encourage unions and furnish employees with spas. "If you give workers power," says a company leader "it is better for everyone."

Slovenia, among other countries, provides free college to everyone, even foreigners. Slovenian officials were at the theater handing out applications. No one is penalized for using drugs in Portugal, and the country is not drowning in anarchy or crime. Women have equal rights in Tunisia. Prisoners in Norway have their own cabins and lawn chairs in the sunlight. They cook their own meals and are free to roam around with barely any security personnel present. Even in the country's maximum security prison there are open rooms. Moore contrasted this with videos of U.S. prison beatings and other harsh treatments. What if the Lehman Brothers were the Lehman Sisters?! Iceland shows us how this might play out.

Moore offered little to counter his ideas, yet we hear too much about such counter points already. The mainstream media, said Moore, is adept at showing us how bad the world is. He thinks this can be fixed. These ideas from other countries are not just good, they are already in use. And they are not just in use, they allow other countries to excel and lead the world. Many of these ideas are American ideas, but out of fear or ignorance they are not used in America. All Americans should see this. Four and a half of five stars. World premiere seen at the Toronto International Film Festival 2015.

Just like Mr. Moore's previous works, brilliant, raw and based on the truth and statistics. The contrast was overwhelming and sickening but he finished it on a positive note. That if only we realize we, the people, realize we have all that it takes, we can bring the wall down, one hammer and chisel at a time. But as one of the guys in the movie said we have "a long way to go". He covered all the relevant issues of our today's society, from women's equal pay to nutrition, from student loans to bankers getting away with murder, from criminalization of drugs and its connection to race to police brutality, from an overworked and underpaid society to disappearance of middle class, from capital punishment to mistreatment of the incarcerated, and more....It is eye-opening and educational, to say the least and makes you wonder why we we "go home and are okay" with all of this. Because "nobody should be".

If you are at all interested in six weeks of paid vacation, an extra month's salary and a two-hour lunch break, you just might have to go to Italy to find it. Filmmaker Michael Moore ("Capitalism: A Love Story," "Sicko"), a welcome voice for sanity, returns to the big screen in his first film in seven years to tell us that perks like this exist, just not in the United States. His latest documentary, Where to Invade Next, is a satiric look at what much of the world has to offer that is not available here. Underneath all the wit, however, the film has a serious purpose, calling our attention to what works and what doesn't work in society, regardless of what may be considered the "right" thing to do and the label you might put on it. In simple terms, so-called American exceptionalism is often not as exceptional as most people think.

Though the title of the film may suggest an exposé of the government's penchant for endless war, Moore has something else in mind. His intention is to show how other nations treat their citizens in the workplace, schools, and prisons, including their attitudes towards women and sex, leaving it to the viewer to make comparisons. In the opening scene, a tongue-in-cheek Moore is summoned to appear before the Joint Chiefs of Staff to offer his advice on how to stop losing wars. His suggestion is to allow him to conduct the invasions from now on, pledging to do better. Taking his camera crew to Italy, France, Finland, Slovenia, Tunisia, Portugal, Iceland, and Germany, he interviews workers, teachers, students, CEOs, government officials, and ordinary folks who tell him about the advantages they have.

When he departs the country, he makes sure to plant the American flag to signal his success in stealing its ideas. Though Moore's bewildered, "are you kidding me?" shtick becomes a bit tiresome by the end, it mostly suits the "wow" nature of what he uncovers. In Italy, the wide-eyed director can only shrug his shoulders when he hears from young workers that they have thirty to thirty-five paid vacation days a year, not including holidays, paid maternity leave, or a paid honeymoon. Seeking an explanation for this, he turns to the CEO of a motorcycle company who tells him that the happier the workers are, the more production they achieve and hence the more profits for the company, though Moore does not discuss the overall economic problems of the country.

In France, Moore teases us by taking us to what he calls a gourmet five-star restaurant in Normandy only to reveal, much to our calculated astonishment, that we are in a typical school cafeteria that serves five-course meals, planned each month by the school and city representatives. Eating with the students, he offers one girl a can of coke but is summarily rebuffed. In looking at Finland's school system, Moore discovers that students have no homework and more free time to socialize and enjoy time with their families. He learns that Finland has no private schools so that the community is dedicated to making the public schools work.

According to Moore, Finland's school system has risen from the depths to become number one in the world.

From there we travel to Slovenia (not to be confused with Slovakia) which has a free university system, especially inviting for foreign students, to Germany where factory workers toil 36 hours a week while being paid for 40 hours. Oh, yes — if they get too stressed, they can go to a spa at company expense to work it all out. Pausing for a serious look at how one country deals with its unpleasant past, Moore explores how educators and students confront the Holocaust in Germany, even though it is uncomfortable to face.

In Norway, we see how prisoners are treated as human beings, even mass murderers like Anders Breivik, even though Breivik has threatened to go on a hunger strike because of what he claims are "deteriorating" living conditions — isolation from the other inmates and allowing only contact being with health care workers and guards. While the energy sags a bit in the last two segments in Portugal and Iceland, Where to Invade Next delivers a sharp, meaningful message though not as impactful as Moore's earlier work. Contrary to his critics, however, it does not disparage America, but suggests that a great people can be even greater if they are willing to learn from others.

I gave this movie a 7 (hesitated with 8) because it is a good film. It is funny, entertaining, it shows things that are true. Something that is nice is that it seems also that Moore tries to show as many countries as possible, even countries that some people might feel are "forgetable", etc.

The reason why I do give a lower mark is that it is a film that is really made for a US audience. Having spent a good deal of time in North America I can completely understand why he tries to make it so that the ideas shown and expressed in the film are as "American" or "American born" as possible, but when you're from someplace else, and when you know more about history or such things in general, it seems just a bit annoying that they try to make some ideas that are pretty much universal, or just not American, as American as possible. The ending is also quite cliché, but it just reflects and intensifies the previous comment. it's actually because of the very-patriotic-to-get-republicans-to-listen ending that i decided to give this movie a7 instead of an 8.

for non us viewers I would say that you can just skip the last 15 minutes, but that the rest is great