Where to Invade Next

This isn't just a great documentary, it's a great film, with jaw dropping reveals and unexpected twists. By about 5 minutes into the film I was hooked and at the edge of my seat as the rest of the two hours flew by; I didn't want it to end, which is always a good sign. To be clear, this film is not about U.S. military interventions like Fahrenheit 9/11, as I suspected, but rather an ironic look into the discordance between American values and American actions; not abroad but at home. It takes us outside our world only to look back at ourselves as if we were strangers. We get to see our values around health, education, incarceration, violence, and fairness in a new light. And, without giving too much away, the film culminates with a big twist that is marvelously compelling. As a result, this film has stuck with me. It has been months since I first saw the film at the Chicago International Film Festival, where it won the Founder's Award, and I find myself thinking about the film at least weekly, which finally prompted me to write this short review. I'm telling everyone I meet to see this film, and to bring their friends, kids, neighbors. Plan some time to talk afterward! I can't wait to see it again myself.

Never have I taken to Michael Moore's work. People seem to think that he's some kind of genius. Well I have news for you -- except that he is very skilled at separating people from their money, he isn't any kind of genius at all. I long ago tired of his simplistic "America bad, Europe good" narrative, but there seems to be a never-ending appetite for it in the hearts of liberal America, in Europe, and in Canada. And when I saw inappropriately angry women he was interviewing in Tunisia and in Iceland spew out nonsense betraying the fact that neither of them have the slightest clue about the United States beyond the tired clichés and the largely incorrect nonsense they have been spoon fed abroad by other people who don't know much about America, almost certainly people who dislike the United States, does he rise to the defence of his country? No, he doesn't. He lets them rant on, assassinating America and her people, because it suits his story. This guy is a tool. I hope he gets well soon, but I don't much care for his agenda. Unless you're a Moore fan, I'd take a pass on this flick.

This is a review of the documentary ''Where to Invade Next'' (2015), by Michael Moore. This review will contain spoilers. In the documentary Moore ''invades'' some different countries in Europe. Here he shows things those countries has successfully brought in to their society, things he believe the U.S needs to improve in. He asks people how and why they are doing it this way, then he ''conquer'' these ideas and brings them back to America. In the end he reveal that all these ideas are from the beginning from USA and the European countries has just borrowed them from the U.S. The arguments that Michael Moore presents is according to me biased. He only shows the positive sides of the European countries and also leave out important information, not all that he says is true. Everyone hasn't 8 weeks of paid vacation in Italy and not all schools in France has great food, but this things strengthens Moore 's arguments and that's why he puts them in the film anyway. Of course he wants to deliver a message to the audience, he believe that the United States have some issues they need to work with and for all I know he might be right. But for me, the problem in this movie isn't whether or not he is right, but how he convince the audience of it. It is in my opinion not right to present a misleading picture of both the European countries and of the U.S. The people needs to have an honest chance to choose what to believe and then they must know the truth. To summarize, I think that this documentary is biased and Michael Moore isn't showing the whole truth. If you want to see this documentary you need to be critical to Moore's arguments. This isn't a documentary, it is propaganda. I wouldn't recommend this movie because it can give you a wrong and misleading picture of the world.

I watched the first couple country's "invaded" and gave up. Americans liking this video must have never left their sofa...ever. Italy -unemployment rate 16% . Interesting facts : The Italian government tried to pass a law allowing parents to kick their own kids (over 30!) out of the house...get the picture? France - Seriously ? Country falling apart. Unemployment and crime rate highest in the history of EUROPE! The french are afraid to leave the house during Muslims prayers (5 times a day) and described their life in Paris as 'Under Nazi occupation". Finland? you compare Finland to America? How can one take you seriously. Since you badmouth the American army so badly I have to break the 'news' to you :middle East now Finland's biggest arms export market ahead of...Russia! Yup. Pathetic unloved fat man.

What if the United States invaded other countries not in order to control people, but to learn from them?! Moore, in a mostly positive yet still humorous, sarcastic and witty bent, leads the charge into other countries. He liberates many brilliant and counter-intuitive strategies for success. It is shocking, even to people who think they know these strategies already. The invasion of Italy comes first. Here we see that the clash between the company and the well-being of its employees, in pay, vacation, family health and more, is a total fallacy. Kids in Finland have no standardized tests, no private schools and even no homework. Kids are treated with respect, like adults really, and have more time to play and be kids. And yet Finland is no slouch when it comes to education and in fact they lead the world here. In France kids are provided with healthy school lunches that we consider gourmet, yet for the French it is just a decent meal. Germany and its companies support a strong middle class by providing all workers with great pay and lots of vacation time. This is so even with less hours worked per week. Companies even encourage unions and furnish employees with spas. "If you give workers power," says a company leader "it is better for everyone." Slovenia, among other countries, provides free college to everyone, even foreigners. Slovenian officials were at the theater handing out applications. No one is penalized for using drugs in Portugal, and the country is not drowning in anarchy or crime. Women have equal rights in Tunisia. Prisoners in Norway have their own cabins and lawn chairs in the sunlight. They cook their own meals and are free to roam around with barely any security personnel present. Even in the country's maximum security prison there are open rooms. Moore contrasted this with videos of U.S. prison beatings and other harsh treatments. What if the Lehman Brothers were the Lehman Sisters?! Iceland shows us how this might play out. Moore offered little to counter his ideas, yet we hear too much about such counter points already. The mainstream media, said Moore, is adept at showing us how bad the world is. He thinks this can be fixed. These ideas from other countries are not just good, they are already in use. And they are not just in use, they allow other countries to excel and lead the world. Many of these ideas are American ideas, but out of fear or ignorance they are not used in America. All Americans should see this. Four and a half of five stars. World premiere seen at the Toronto International Film Festival 2015.

We Americans have a lot to learn from other cultures. Most Americans think they are "the best" in the world - IN EVERYTHING - AND THAT'S UTTER NONSENSE! It's a form of social control used by various elites to keep the average American from knowing what is possible with the great wealth and power our country has accumulated. We have been brainwashed into taking crumbs and believing that's all we deserve from our society. We are also deliberately kept ignorant about the rest of the world and how much better many countries treat their citizens - since our school systems pretend that most of the world outside of Mexico, Canada and a few large countries in Europe and Asia - simply doesn't exist. It outrageous. We are such fools! I'm an extremely well-informed person and I didn't even know about half of what Michael Moore mentioned in his film! I can only imagine all the dunderheads out there who have never even heard the names of some of the countries mentioned in Where To Invade Next! Be curious about the rest of the world. It has a lot to teach us!

He does it quite well, with a humorous twist. But his message is wrong on so many levels. I do not agree with him at all but I give it five anyway, because he is good at this type of disinformation. Among many things he goes on about paid vacation. OK, sounds great. But if you think about the following example. A person in France earns 3000 EUR per month after taxes. He/she takes four weeks vacation and gets paid during this time. Great. That is then a yearly salary of 36 000 EUR after taxes. A person in the US earns the equivalent of 4000 EUR per month after taxes. He/she take four weeks of unpaid vacation. That is then a yearly salary of 44 000 EUR after taxes. Who earns more? Well, you are right - the person in the US. Paid vacation sounds great but the main thing here is what you get to keep after the taxes is paid. And let me tell you: Here in Europe it is not much. Michael Moore "forgets" to mention such things throughout the movie.

Just like Mr. Moore's previous works, brilliant, raw and based on the truth and statistics. The contrast was overwhelming and sickening but he finished it on a positive note. That if only we realize we, the people, realize we have all that it takes, we can bring the wall down, one hammer and chisel at a time. But as one of the guys in the movie said we have "a long way to go". He covered all the relevant issues of our today's society, from women's equal pay to nutrition, from student loans to bankers getting away with murder, from criminalization of drugs and its connection to race to police brutality, from an overworked and underpaid society to disappearance of middle class, from capital punishment to mistreatment of the incarcerated, and more....It is eye-opening and educational, to say the least and makes you wonder why we we "go home and are okay" with all of this. Because "nobody should be".

The thing is with this Michael Moore's latest docu, I'm a liberal, so he's basically preaching to the converted. So the best way for this film to have the most impact is for it to screen in regions of the U.S.A. where there's big demographics that want status quo, that blame the minorities for the economy, that are still gung-ho about endless wars. From "Roger & Me," to "Bowling For Columbine," to "Sicko" to "Fahrenheit 911" and now "Where To Invade Next," Michael Moore knows which buttons to push to tick off the right wingers. Don't get me wrong, I love this country, this good ol' US of A but let's not be ignorant, let's not be in denial, let's not forget the fact that we are also responsible for lots of atrocities, many of which are currently happening, including our idea of going to one war after another after another, toppling one dictator after another dictator after another. We invaded Iraq. which didn't attack us on 9/11 by the way, with the plan of stealing their oil and look what happens now, we're still paying the consequences of the lives and expense we've lost there, and terrorism fill the political vacuum and wages war on us. WHERE TO INVADE NEXT is basically Michael Moore invading major modern nations and playfully stealing their ideas that work, ideas that improve the lives of their citizens. It's sad really when you think about it. It's sad that we are supposed to be the richest most powerful country in the world and yet many of our middle-class are disappearing and the poor don't have a leg up to get themselves out of poverty. Italy gives their newly mothers five months of paid maternity leave. The education system in Norway get rid of standardized testing and instead they improve on poetry, art, and music, basically stuff on which Americas education system often cuts funding. Portugal has done away with death penalty. Even a moslem country in Tunisia can have their conservative and liberal parties work together to pass laws that would improve the lives of their citizens. Germany has free college tuition and universal health care. Watching WHERE TO INVADE NEXT makes you envy these other neighboring countries, they get to live the American dream while we here cannot. The government should be by the people, of the people and for the people, NOT for the greedy few but that is unfortunately what's happening in our country. In the U.S., the greedy few on top gamble with our money and they fail or when the bubble burst, like in 2008, it's our taxpayers money that bailed them out. The CEOs responsible were never convicted of their crime. Speaking of taxes, most of our taxes go to military, and yet the politicians make it seem like we cannot afford such things as universal health care and universal college. Another thing that WHERE TO INVADE NEXT points out is that we Americans have become arrogant. We think that we are the good guys so much so that everything we do cannot be wrong. We have bought into our own exceptionalism that we choose to not learn from other countries anymore. We forget to learn from our own history. WHERE TO INVADE NEXT goes straight for the truth, it's Michael Moore's funniest yet, but it's funny in a way that leaves a feeling a self-retrospect in you. It's eye-opening. I hope my fellow millennials get to see WHERE TO INVADE NEXT, and then do their research, learn from history and then take a stand and do something about it.

I have never really liked Michael Moore's films, they are too simplistic and you'll leave with a more ignorant view about the world. I've seen a lot of American or Canadian reviews but not so much from people actually living in Europe. Michael Moore really sets this movie up as if America is functioning without any intelligence and that Europe is some magical unicorn land where everything is amazing, and all we do is laugh and make love. Sure there are some things that are nice about Europe and European culture, but there is also a whole lot that is bad. Depression rates and suicide rates are really high in Europe. Since the migrant crisis Sweden,- the O'so praised liberal and socialist country has become the rape capital of Europe. In Germany the far right is gaining power, this is due to a lot of violence from foreigners on native German people. Greece is collapsed, I am sure Italy has enough problems. Spain has high unemployment rates. The dutch prisoners are full of foreigners, and there is a divide in the schooling system, you end up with things like "black schools",- it's a thing. One can also make a list of all the good things and bad things in America, but why nitpick and cater to a dumb audience? Life is messy everywhere. We're all still trying to figure it out. Anyway, the portrayal of Europe is very false, and therefore makes it a bad documentary. Michael Moore once again tries to paint a picture of European greatness,--this is all a total lie.