Plot: Documentarian Michael Moore visits
several countries in order to find ideas to bring back to America.
Review: Michael Moore is a divisive
personality. Whilst his documentaries are always well done and great at
bringing a point home, sometimes he pushes his agenda too much and does not
leave interpretation. Because of this most of his movies are for those who
share his world view and leaves nothing for those who don’t.
In
Where to Invade Next however, his
approach is not quite as up front. His goal here is to explore how people in
other countries live and bring those ideas to integrate them to the American
lifestyle. It is difficult to argue that the United States is often closed
minded when it comes to different ways of living. So maybe, if they see how
people live these lifestyles in different parts of the world, they might become
more open to those ideas. And in most of the places he visits, there are great
ideas. Having more vacation days, higher quality of food to be fed to children,
helping drug addicts rather then throwing them in overcrowded jails, etc. These
are all things that should, in the very least, be up for consideration.
It’s
in the second half of the movie where Moore starts to push his agenda. He
visits countries where the prison system is much more liberal and prisoners
have large amounts of freedom. Like the previous ideas, this one is definitely
something that should be considered. But there are a lot of societal and social
differences in these countries where some of these ideas may not work
everywhere. This is where Michael Moore says that the war on drugs that United
States wages is an excuse to throw black people in prison. Not only is this a
far fetched idea, but it just does not logically feel correct either. Of
course, this is an opinion and the man is entitled to it, but it can be a
slippery slope to believe these ideas.
As
he has proven before, Michael Moore is a great documentarian. He knows how to
get you invested in his battles and follow his ideas. Whilst he is very
convincing, he at times goes too far in pushing his beliefs. Fortunately, it is
toned down in this film but it does rear it head from time to time.
Score: 7/10
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