The polarizing provocateur documentarian Michael Moore is back after a six-year hiatus with his brand new and top secret project “Where to Invade Next.”
Surprisingly, there were few defectors of the world premiere audience on opening night of TIFF 2015. Still, rapturous applause echoed through the Princess of Wales many times throughout.
In his latest picture, Michael Moore gives up all objectivity and embraces liberal ideas head on as he travels around the world for inspiration. This pays homage to Michael Moore of the early 2000s, a more optimistic one. In a Q&A with the audience, he even admitted its secret name was “Mike's Happy Film.”
Despite a softer tone, the final product ends up being timely, poignant and even touching at points.
The whole concept starts with Moore being allegedly contacted by the Secretary of Defense. They have reached out to him because America hasn’t won a war since World War II and they need a new perspective.
So, Moore decides he will hop from country to country, invading them for America. What this actually means is that he goes on a sort of world tour, mostly of European countries, where he learns about successful programs that could be implicated in America.
These ideas range from Syria's forwardness in women elected officials to eight weeks of paid vacation in Italy.
At the end of each visit he plants an American flag and claims their ideas as new American ones to apply stateside.
The scope of Moore’s project is incredibly impressive, especially since he was able to keep it under wraps until the day the TIFF program was announced.
#TIFF15 Where To Invade Next, Truly a crowd pleaser with an incredible amount of work put into it. Smart and fun.
— Tanner Stechnij (@TannerStechnij) September 11, 2015
The craft, passion and love for the project are so apparent as Moore must have gone through excruciating means to get the access he did. This includes two trips to Norwegian prisons which champion prisoners rights and meetings with female leaders of Icelandic banking.
The most touching segment was Moore’s visit to an elementary school in Germany. He focuses on how apologetic and responsible the Germans feel for the Holocaust. The school kids even do a time-capsule-like project in honor of the people lost during the genocide.
He equates this to America’s genocide of Native Americans and the enslavement of African Americans. One of Moore’s most important calls to action is to remove the white-washing from America and embrace our biggest historical shortcoming so that we don’t move backwards.
Yet, what Moore covers in “Where To Invade Next” isn't necessarily groundbreaking or new revelations. His humor works to create a unique voice in the pro-socialism political climate, but I wish he would have taken things a step further.
A lot of Americans know of the liberties in Europe, but the fact that Tunisia is more forward-thinking about females in government is shocking and interesting news. If Moore had spent more time in less developed countries and still found that they had more social justices than America, the message would have been elevated one step further.
Moore also has a habit for indulging too deeply in some topics. He spends a lot of time on the school cafeterias in France and the prison system in Norway. The film felt about ten minutes too long and just missed its sweet spot of effectiveness.
The last segments of “Where to Invade Next” brings the attention to the female population and their lack of prominence in the American political and working cultures. Moore, along with a group of successful female Icelandic CEOs mention that a woman’s touch may be what America needs to leave the dark ages.
Socialism is very “in” in the United States right now with Bernie Sander’s support, but this last segment seemed to be a vote of confidence for Mrs. Clinton. He wouldn't comment on an affiliation after the screening, though.
Regardless, Moore leaves his objectivity at the door and speaks from the heart about ways that he believes could really make America great again.
Reach the reporter at tanner.stechnij@asu.edu or follow @tannerstechnij on Twitter.
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