In Newest Doc, Michael Moore asks “Where to Invade Next?” Oscar-winning director's globe-trotting journey makes a "profound yet simple" statement
Written by Jenna Belhumeur
In Where to Invade Next, Oscar-winning director Michael Moore’s first film in six years, Moore takes viewers on a journey to various countries to plant the American flag while simultaneously making a profound and yet somehow simple point to his fellow countrymen: We are not the best. And we don’t know everything.
First on Moore’s invasion list is Italy, where what seems to be a ludicrous amount of holidays and paid time off may leave American audiences questioning whether capitalist greed and competitiveness has ruined our own society’s work-life balance. The audience’s disbelief that Italian newlyweds receive additional vacation days for honeymoons was audible during Thursday night’s screening.
Next up is France, where Moore’s comical experience indulging in multiple sumptuous courses in a public school’s cafeteria will make your jaw drop at what our own country allows its schoolchildren to consume in comparison. In Finland he discovers the seemingly paradoxical (to Americans at least) secret sauce to the world’s best education system: no homework and the shortest school days and shortest school year in the entire Western world. What’s more, there are no standardized tests and it is illegal to charge school tuition in the country. One Finnish teacher who had previously taught in the states highlights the United States’ short fallings when it comes to educating its future generations. Based on her past experiences, she solemnly states that it feels false to say to some U.S. schoolchildren that they can be whatever they want when they grow up.
In Slovenia, Moore takes on student debt. In Germany, he comes face-to-face with a country whose past is not erased from history books, but where the Holocaust is discussed for what it was, the “one thing they must never forget.” In Portugal, he finds a country where there is no such thing as drug arrests. In Norway. Moore steps inside a maximum security prison where cells appear nicer than many New York City apartments, highlighting how a nation with one of the lowest recidivism rates in the world treats its prisoners. In Tunisia, he disproves misconceptions about Islam and women’s rights. And in Iceland he sheds light on how the country’s banking collapse was handled; where nearly 70 bankers and hedge fund managers, the “real criminals”, went to prison. Meanwhile, in the aftermath of the U.S. financial crisis that generated hundreds of billions in losses, only one banker went to jail. Moore’s side note? This particular banker had an Islamic name.
Despite clearly showing the backwardness of American policies and their effects on the wellbeing of society, Moore somehow manages to also convey a feeling of hope within his film. He remains an optimist about the “American Dream,” outlining how many of these foreign ideas are in fact rooted in American concepts.
Before Thursday evening’s screening, Moore made an appearance for a brief Q&A session at Chelsea’s SVA Theater. He commented on his political leanings, who he would choose to play himself in a biopic (for the record, it’s Jennifer Lopez), and disclosed that he has another project in the works he hopes to reveal within the next year.
And after Where to Invade Next, you can be sure that fans will be eagerly awaiting Moore’s next endeavor. As Thom Powers, DOC NYC’s Artistic Director who reviews hundreds of films on a yearly basis, fittingly put it, “If there is one film I hope every person has the chance to see within the next year, it is Where to Invade Next.”
Jenna Belhumeur is a recent graduate of the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, and currently works within the video department at The Wall Street Journal. Her first documentary short, BACK, explores the experiences of an ex-prisoner reentering society after 40 years behind bars. The film premieres at this year’s DOC NYC festival. Follow her on Twitter @jenna_bel
