Where To Invade Next * * * 1/2

Michael with his mouth open.
(No other shots available)

And so Michael Moore invades our conscience and consciousness once again.  

The ironic thing about Michael is that in some ways he is guilty of all the things he criticises: arrogance, condescension, manipulating the truth through selection, as he tells us the bits that support his case whilst conveniently overlooking facts that might undermine his argument.  But I think Mike’s worse sin is his appearance. God he’s a bad dresser!

But I still like him.  He’s a clever filmmaker and ultimately his heart is in the right place.  He has a warm personality and and he genuinely does want a better life for people. He is also a very entertaining documentary maker.  His stuff is always interesting and thought provoking, even if, within 10 minutes of leaving the cinema we sometimes slap ourselves and say,  “Hey!...wait a minute !”

Where To Invade Next is Michael going from place to place - mostly European countries - and invading them for ideas.

He shows how the places he visits do things better than they do in the USA: and in the main he is quite right, especially on the way schools and prisons are run.  

He also selects a couple of factories in Italy where they practice Workplace Democracy which is not exactly a new idea.  I am sure examples of it being done could also be found in America, would have served the film, and his cause, better, as someone doing it in their own backyard might be a more persuasive argument.

He also shows us prisoner rehabilitation in Norway and compares it to what happens in America, which has a system that only results in further hardening of criminals. But again I sense he chose the most idyllic model prisons to tell his story.

But all his selectivity aside, the most important message is not so much that other countries do it better, as some institutions do it better than others.  It can be done. He gives many case studies to support this: all of which any half-thinking person would want to adopt.

But I  fear that  a nation that is keen to have Donald Trump as their President are probably not much interested in the concept of  a longer holidays for workers and rehabilitating prisoners by treating them as dignified human beings who have lost their way because society did not look after them properly.