Where to Invade Next is, of course, satirical. Michael Moore again plays the wily naïf who asks astonished, wide-eyed, innocent questions, although he is neither naïve, wide-eyed, nor innocent. It's his game; those who either love Moore or hate him know it's his game, and Moore plays it exceptionally well.
Even if half of what Moore claims in his new movie is true, the film still exposes much about who we Americans are and how we treat ourselves and others in our world.
This time, Moore works from the idea that whenever America invades a country, we get lots of good stuff from them. Images of the great monuments in Washington, D.C. accompanied by military percussion lead to Moore's fake stentorian tones that he'd been summoned to the Pentagon by the worried Joint Chiefs of Staff desperate for his advice. He tells them that he will invade countries around the world and bring back things America needs. So he goes to France to see about acquiring great school lunches, to Slovenia where college education is free, to Germany and Italy to see how factories treat workers well and help sustain a viable, healthy middle class.
Michael Moore is actually far more patriotic than people who trumpet their patriotism in loud and reckless bragging and chest thumping. He doesn't rant about how America is the greatest country ever; he wants the U.S. to be a great country. He's furious about the waste of American lives, veterans whose homes are foreclosed upon, 13-year-old girls wrestled to the ground by burly policemen for mouthing off and African-American men released from prison after serving decades for crimes they didn't commit.
He juxtaposes images of these travesties with self-serving statements about enforcing justice in the rest of the world made by presidents ranging from Ronald Reagan to Barack Obama. Moore's weapon is sarcasm – and in military fatigues carrying a billowing American flag, Michael Moore sets off to steal what America needs from the rest of the world.
He reveals the dangers posed by Italy with shots of couples walking along the sea, necking, eating and jogging – and what he wants to grab from Italy for America is vacation policy for working class people. Factory executives explain that it's in the interest of the companies to treat workers well and make sure they can afford to live comfortably. The CEO of the Ducati motorcycle company leads Moore through a clean well-lit factory where workers eat healthy lunches. He explains that the well-being of the workers is crucial to the success of the company.
At an elementary school in a small town in France, the chef puts together fabulous-looking lunches, meets with a town committee to go over the menus for the coming month, and wonders if he should substitute a fruit and cheese course for another dessert. It's quite wonderful to see the heavy-set Moore sitting with French schoolchildren at a lunch table and pretending to be astonished at their elegant meal. They look at him as if he's nuts.
There's not much new in Where to Invade Next. Moore is obsessed with his belief that the United States, the richest and most powerful country in the world, is racked by fear and an astounding lack of generosity toward its citizens, and that our wealth and power lead us to believe life should be marked by punishment and anxiety.
Where to Invade Next is obviously selective in what it shows. I have no idea if Norwegian prisons or Italian factories or French elementary schools are really such models of human decency and generosity – and good cooking. But to a degree it doesn't matter. We know that our prisons and many of our schools are hellholes. We know that junk food does not lead to good health and longevity.
For all his self-promotion and bombast, Michael Moore aches for what he believes America ought to be.
