Where to Invade Next (2015)
Director: Michael Moore
Review by Clemmie Wetherall
Michael Moore’s tongue is firmly in cheek at the beginning of Where to Invade Next. In his new documentary he appoints himself as a one-man army to the U.S.A. and sets off on a European campaign to invade and steal the best social policies the world has to offer while the US Military takes a break. But with Moore there is always a pointed barb to every joke and this documentary is no exception. The opening fast-paced montage pulls no punches and presents us with a picture of the USA that shows an over-stretched geo-political super power struggling to look after its own people on home soil and maintain its influence and military presence internationally. But this isn’t another Bowling for Columbine or Fahrenheit 9/11. While a curious Moore is once again playing the naive and unworldly American to a tee (flag in hand and shabby trucker cap askew), he is more of a diplomat than a general. His duties are to collect intelligence from the allies and not get caught up in friendly fire.
First stop on the tour de social policy is Italy, where Moore is flabbergasted to learn they have eight weeks paid leave annually and a two hour lunch break every day (there is no guarantee of any leave in the USA). “But what about productivity and competition?” he bemoans to the CEOs of high fashion and automobile companies. “People are happy”, the CEOs enthuse, “they work hard and they don’t get sick – a good work/life balance is compatible with a successful business.”
Still recovering from this first revelation, he heads to France where the national school lunch program involves serving fresh nutritious food (and cheese) every day to healthy happy students and then on to Finland where there are no private schools or standardised tests and they have some of brightest best educated children in the world. As Moore travels from country to country he ‘steals’ these ideas for America and plants an American flag in foreign soil – a slightly naff joke that gets old quickly, but a useful narrative tool nonetheless.
However, frustration with the lack of depth and context to these reportedly successful social policies kicks in early on in the piece, and while Moore prefaces this, saying he’s “here to pick the flowers and not the weeds”, there is a strong underlying desire to know exactly why and how these policies developed and how they are maintained. In an effort to include so many countries and policies ranging from children’s well-being through to drug laws and the justice system, Moore has left little room to answer many of the questions that naturally arise over the two hours (scattershot history montages and quick visual jokes providing minimal assistance).
Moore has always been front and centre in his documentaries, embodying many of the stereotypes associated with the USA and using them to his advantage to disarm, charm and annoy. And while he has shown us the very worst of the USA since Roger and Me first appeared on screens back in the 1980s and has mapped the decline of a country that purports to be the greatest in the world, Moore genuinely desires to Make America Great Again. This genuine love for his country is a clear motivating force behind the making of Where to Invade Next and his optimism about the possibility of genuine positive social change in the USA is the apex of the film. But while he goes some way towards showing us how things could be different for the USA, Where to Invade Next is too light on detail to bridge the gap between his dreams and reality.
Where to Invade Next opens on April 7.
