Where To Invade Next | Michael Moore | NYFF 2015
Michael Moore has taken a bit of a hiatus from the documentary world for most of President Obama’s time in office, but with the 2016 election only months away, Moore’s back with Where To Invade Next. It’s not so much an attack film, like his recent films Fahrenheit 9/11, Sicko, and Capitalism: A Love Story. Instead, Where To Invade Next is more optimistic than his recent films – but it’s still as emotionally stirring.
Shot in secret, Moore and his small crew traveled to eight European countries (Italy, France, Finland, Slovenia, Germany, Portugal, Norway, and Iceland) to find successful ideas or concepts in the “invaded” societies and bring them back to the United States – a sort of reverse Manifest Destiny for intellectual property or socioeconomic ideas – after getting the “go-ahead” from the Joint Chiefs instead of sending troops to invade. Once he learns about each country’s ideas or concepts, he plants an uncharacteristically large American flag to claim the idea before moving on to the next country of choice.
Moore isn’t deterred in his quest to bring these concepts back to the States, backing up economic aspects with facts about both the American and European concepts, like taxation and education standards. It’s a relief, as the opening credits roll in front of cell phone footage of Eric Garner’s chokehold death, the McKinney, TX pool party, and similar infuriating moments that drive home the point that America is at the bottom of the pile, so to say. He goes on to emphasize this point throughout the film, from plentiful paid vacation time and maternity leave (Italy) to better school lunches and sex-ed classes (France) to participative classrooms, no homework or standardized tests, and more focus on extracurriculars (Finland) to essentially free college (Slovenia) to decriminalized drug use (Portugal) and rehab-focused prisons (Norway). Moore concedes that there is cherry-picking when it comes to the societies and their concepts, as there is no perfect society.
If you’re expecting the Michael Moore of the last decade or so (Fahrenheit 9/11, for example), you’re in for a surprise. The Michael Moore of 2015 is more mellowed, but still doggedly drives his point home with data and statistics. Where To Invade Next has a shine of optimism, something we haven’t really seen from him before. His prior pointed documentaries were focused on a target (i.e., guns, health care, George W. Bush) and the impact of that target on American life, driven by an underlying anger at the injustices being committed. Now, though, Moore has hope that some of his claimed/conquered ideas will strike a chord with the American public and electorate, who will act to reincorporate ideas that have evolved other countries looked to America as an example. Perhaps it is America that will now look abroad for inspiration.
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