WHERE TO INVADE NEXT – The Review

Filmmaker Michael Moore returns to a more comic touch with WHERE TO INVADE NEXT, an election-season-perfect tour of life in other developed countries which maybe Moore’s funniest in years. Moore’s last film, CAPITALISM: A LOVE STORY, took a rather grim look at America’s economic system but WHERE TO INVADE NEXT recalls Moore’s earlier playful troublemaker, uncovering ironies and overlooked facts, as he did in BOWLING FOR COLUMBINE and ROGER AND ME, although this film continues some thoughts from previous films. In WHERE TO INVADE NEXT, Moore starts with the U.S.’s penchant react with military force, and fashions himself into a one-man army to “invade” various countries on America’s behalf in order to “take things we need.” In this case, those countries are other developed nations and those things are not oil or other resources but their good ideas to solving our myriad domestic problems. The odd thing Moore uncovers is that most of these good ideas actually originated in the good ol’ USA.

Michael Moore is a “love him or hate him” filmmaker. There are plenty of folks on the “hate him” side, who might steam at the very thought of Moore’s films, seethe at calling them documentaries or even call Moore “unpatriotic.” On the other side are those who delight in his satirical and stunt-filled style of uncovering of facts behind issues and see his version of lefty truth-telling as patriotic. Although Moore has little interest in presenting the other side’s view in his films, and some find Moore’s stunts irritating, there is no denying he often focuses on issues many people are thinking about and hits on a few unpleasant truths.

People who dislike Moore are unlikely to go see any of his films, and this one is no exception. But for those who take the opposite view of Moore, WHERE TO INVADE NEXT has much to offer.

The film opens with Moore “meeting” with the heads of branches of the U.S. military, and after noting their lack of success in winning wars in recent decades (“not even bringing back Iraq’s oil” – comments sure to enrage right-wingers), Moore offers his services as a one-man army, to invade other countries and “take what we need.” Of course, that is all comedy and what he means to “take” are good ideas to solve the nation’s domestic problems – such as failing schools, poor childhood nutrition, lack of access to healthcare, student loan debt, an overloaded prison system, and other issues.

Moore may have taken the idea for this film from the end of SICKO, where Moore “invades” Cuba in search of healthcare for all. Healthcare is part of this film too but this time Moore is looking for more. There is a kind of travelogue aspect to the film, as Moore “invades” Italy, France, Norway, and Sweden, among others – “countries with names I can mostly pronounce” and with a higher level of middle-class satisfaction than this nation has. In Italy, Moore finds happy employees with generous vacations and factory owners concerned about their well-being. In France, he finds grade-school kids who are served healthy, four-course meals (on real plates) by the “lunch ladies” as if they are dining in restaurants. In Slovenia, he finds free college education for all (even Americans living there), and in Norway, top-notch education in public schools where children are encouraged to play. Other countries have prison systems that aim to rehabilitate offenders or banking systems that punished the malefactors in the global economic melt-down and have been re-organized to benefit all citizens.

Moore also tackles the oft-cited issue of higher taxes in these other developed nations, correctly pointing out that residents of those countries get a whole lot of services for a little more in taxes, whereas Americans spend far more by paying for services like childcare and healthcare from private providers. Further, those other taxpayers get an itemized list of where their tax dollars go, something progressive and even some libertarians have been asking the U.S. government to do for years. As Moore’s film shows, such an American taxpayer receipt would reveal that, apart from Social Security and Medicare, about half the taxes Americans pay go to the military.

All this is done with an impish, flag-waving sense of fun, even though Moore is making some hard-hitting points. In an election year where voters on both sides are unhappy with politics as usual, WHERE TO INVADE NEXT provides an entertaining and thought-provoking look at how other countries solve these problems.

WHERE TO INVADE NEXT Opens Friday, February 12^th at the Plaza Frontenac and Tivoli.

OVERALL RATING:  4 OUT OF 5 STARS