Where to Invade Next **** (2015, Michael Moore) – Movie Review

Tireless crusader against injustice Michael Moore sets off from America to ‘invade’ various countries to grab hold of some of their good ideas to take back to the States to make life better there. In the process, he finds that many of these ideas originated in the US in the first place anyway!

Moore’s hugely entertaining and informative two-hour documentary Where to Invade Next is just brilliant! It had me laughing almost all through and near to tears a couple of times.

Moore himself is on top form, very witty, provocative and informative. My head was buzzing for hours afterwards. It’s a movie with lots and lots to think about – great!

It’s notable that there is no British section this time, and no mention of Margaret Thatcher in his Iceland section about the healing, caring power of women politicians. Unfortunately Mrs Thatcher doesn’t fit in to Moore’s argument. But then he’d probably say she was the exception that proves the rule. Otherwise, this documentary is pretty much near perfect. In any case it’s easy to agree with Moore – he’s on the side of the angels, even if everyone won’t agree with that. And he’s got so much charisma, he lights up rooms when he walks in to them.

It’s fortunate that he’s able to be so funny about serious matters. This disarms his opponents and gets him in to places and able to meet key folk that a more overtly serious documentary maker might find themselves excluded from. He’s got the popular touch, though I guess he’s not popular everywhere, especially back in the US, where he must be a thorn in the side. But by now he’s survived long enough to be a cultural icon. Not exactly a court jester, but that kind of thing, allowed to speak the truth with a laugh.

In his travels, Moore visits Italy with its generous holidays, France with its gourmet school dnners, German with its progressive industrial policy, Norway with its progressive prison system, Tunisia with its progressive women’s policy and Iceland with its strong female presence in government and business.

It is the 62-year-old Moore’s first documentary in six years – since Capitalism: A Love Story (2009).

© Derek Winnert 2016 Movie Review

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