Where to Invade Next examines American morale

Cue thrilling action music. Cut to an intense helicopter flying over the most historic landmarks in Washington, D.C. — the Capitol Building, the White House and the Pentagon. Though Where to Invade Next doesn’t initially seem like a Michael Moore film, due to more comedy and patriotism then all of his previous movies combined, it most surely is. The Academy Award-winning documentary filmmaker behind movies such as Fahrenheit 9/11 and Bowling for Columbine, Moore once again delivers a thought-provoking film that not only questions the actions done by Americans on a daily basis but also offers effective solutions to those problems. Where to Invade Next takes the audience around the Caucasian world, through countries Moore “can mostly pronounce,” in an attempt to steal the successful practices of such countries for the United States. In his most nationalistic film to date, Moore aims not to tear America and its citizens down, but to build them up. The film is set to re-open on Feb. 12.

The movie commences dramatically with suspenseful music and fly-by helicopter shots typical of the next Michael Bay Transformers movie, but while automobiles transforming into Autobots may not be serious, Moore assures viewers that his mission is. Summoned by the Joint Chief of Staff, Moore is tasked, in an effort to avoid spending billions of dollars at war, with invading countries around the world in search of “the things we need from them and bring them back home to the United States.” Armed with nothing but his signature baseball cap and the American flag wrapped around him, Moore travels to the likes of Italy, France, Finland, Slovenia, Germany, among other countries.

Moore’s masterful storytelling abilities are on full display throughout the movie and can especially be seen in Italy, as he interrogates an Italian couple. While avoiding controversial interrogation techniques, such as waterboarding and sleep deprivation, Moore gets the truth out of the 30-something couple. Mandated by law, all Italians must receive at least four weeks paid vacation every year, but when government holidays are added into the equation, paid time off is closer to eight weeks a year. Policies of a minimum of five months maternity and paternity leave, two hour lunches and layaway vacation days — where if a worker doesn’t utilize his or her paid vacation days, he or she can save them for the future and still be paid — overwhelmed Moore. In an effort to ease past critiques of his liberal objectives, Moore consistently asked the couple demanding questions, even venturing to the floor of Ducati factories, the famous motorcycle brand, to interview the company’s CEOs about its practices. Paired with a union representative of the Ducati company, the CEOs agreed that two-hour lunches and paid vacations were good for business because their employees are happier and therefore more productive. Flabbergasted, Moore directly asked, “But don’t you want to make more money?” The CEOs turned to each other confused, one responding, “No, we’re satisfied with our lives.” Certain that policies such as these in Italy should be employed in the United States, Moore plants the American flag on the floor of the factory, as well as in the nice couple’s living room.

The film goes on to address countless controversial ideas such as primary school reform, reducing the cost of college tuition as well as reducing mass incarceration, the legality of drugs and police enforcement. As the film progresses, it is clear that Moore’s approach is to highlight the power of the people and the power of women specifically. Traveling to Tunisia, the only non-European (and Muslim) country in the film, to cite their 2011 revolution and then to Iceland where he learns that the only company to escape the country’s massive financial meltdown was one founded and run by women. As Moore discovers and uncovers these ideas, he recognizes that they weren’t founded in these countries but back at home in the United States, and that his mission wasn’t to steal these reforms, but to reclaim them.

While critics of Moore’s style and opinion will insist that if Moore is unhappy with the policies of the United States, he should move to one of these countries, he doesn’t shy away from the facts. From the beginning of the movie, it is clear that he is on a mission to “pick the flowers and not the weeds.” Whether or not one agrees with his politics or opinions, it is safe to say that Where to Invade Next is a thought-provoking film that focuses on what’s great about America and inspires people to take those first few steps toward change. After the credits, the video of the woman climbing the flagpole outside the South Carolina state house and tearing down the Confederate flag plays, reinforcing the message Moore had been encouraging all along: Americans can do better.