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posted by martyb on Monday December 28 2015, @01:46PM   Printer-friendly
from the why-not-invade-Capitol-Hill? dept.

MovieTickets.com says[1]

This is an expansive, rib-tickling, and subversive comedy in which Moore, playing the role of "invader", visits a host of nations to learn how the U.S. could improve its own prospects. The creator of "Fahrenheit 9/11" and "Bowling for Columbine" is back with this hilarious and eye-opening call to arms. Turns out the solutions to America's most entrenched problems already existed in the world--they're just waiting to be co-opted.

[1] Despite just 1 HTML error and 3 warnings, that page doesn't "Degrade gracefully" at all for me without specifying No Style in my browser. (I block everything that is not readable text.)

The Ring of Fire notes Republicans Will Hate Michael Moore's New Movie

"The American Dream seemed to be alive and well everywhere but America", says Moore.
["Where To Invade Next"] is the sort of documentary that will have Republicans sputtering angry America-themed rhetoric and completely missing the point.

From the other side of the aisle, Esquire says Noted Schmuck Michael Moore Just Made a Very Good Movie

Michael Moore is the worst kind of asshole: the kind who's right a lot of the time. He tells us mostly agreeable things in the most disagreeable way, rich in smarm and hyperbole and self-regard. A certain kind of messenger seems to revel in people's occasional desires to kill him. Moore is that kind of messenger.

[More after the break.]

AlterNet reports

"Where to Invade Next" begins with the observation that the United States has not won a war since World War II. It then comically imagines the Department of Defense calling on Moore to step in and save our nation. His plan? Invade nations not to take them over but to take their good ideas. We then see a hilariously ironic shot of Moore on a ship draped in the American flag and heading out on his quest.

Moore then embarks on a tour of a series of European nations and one in Africa where he finds society getting it right. From debt-free education to paid leave, women's rights, prison reform and delicious school lunches, Moore offers viewers a world where people simply live better than we do here.

In a brilliant move, Moore has made his most patriotic film yet without shooting a single frame in the United States.

[...] As Moore moves throughout the film [displaying] the American flag, he isn't just claiming the good ideas of other nations; he is claiming the flag and its symbolic force for those on the [Social Democratic middle.]

[...] Moore's film offers an alternative to the militaristic version of American exceptionalism. And he moves away from the negative politics that have haunted the [Social Democratic middle] since the '60s. [...] Moore realizes that progressive politics need to move [...] [toward] a platform that can inspire the imagination.

[...] By the end of the film "Where to Invade Next" refers as much to invading our apathetic political zeitgeist as it does to invading other nations. The ultimate irony of the film is that all we need to do to improve our nation is change the way we think.

[...] Bush won [...] because the Republicans got out the fear vote.

On the other side of the fence, [many in the center vote against the right], not for anything. And that's where the political potential of Moore's film lies. It asks us to imagine, if the invasion this country really needs is not an invasion of another country, but rather the invasion of the people into our own political process. Now that would be a real revolution.

[...] "Where to Invade Next" has a wide release set for Feb. 12, which is also Abraham Lincoln's birthday and the week of the New Hampshire primary. Coincidence? Definitely not.

[...] So Moore asked his distributors to get on board with a release plan designed to rock the nation: "I said .... give me a month or so to barnstorm the country, me personally, in a big rock 'n' roll tour bus, and we will criss-cross the country showing the film for free, leading up to the New Hampshire primary--because the issues in the film are the issues, the real issues, people want being discussed in this election year." They may also have music and rallies along the way.

TIME has some specifics about what Moore found:

In Italy, workers receive generous paid vacations, extended maternity leave, and two-hour lunch breaks! In France, little kids are fed tasty, nutritious school lunches, including fancy cheeses! In Finland, young students aren't burdened with childhood-crushing homework, while in Portugal, no one is arrested for using drugs! In Slovenia, a university education is free! In Iceland, wicked bankers who threw the country into recent economic crisis were actually convicted of their crimes!


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  • (Score: 0, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 28 2015, @06:10PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 28 2015, @06:10PM (#281758)

    Why are you so myopic to think this is a US-only issue? Sure, "Insightful" mods are easy to come by around here with "everywhere is great except the US" comments, but you'd really sound more insightful if your comments had proper perspective. Even the World Bank has pointed out that it is a worldwide problem.

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  • (Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 28 2015, @08:06PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 28 2015, @08:06PM (#281809)

    Come on man. He didn't say anything about it being uniquely american. Just that some other countries have done better. In the discussion of a story about America's problems it should be no surprise that the focus is on america's problems. Nit-picky sheldoon cooper posts like yours are the equivalent of grammer flames - technicalities that draw focus from the issues.

    • (Score: 2) by isostatic on Tuesday December 29 2015, @04:48PM

      by isostatic (365) on Tuesday December 29 2015, @04:48PM (#282084) Journal

      America is leading the way, but don't worry, other countries are catching up.