Michael Moore "Where to Invade Next"

I saw Michael Moore's new film, “Where to Invade Next,” this past week and was so excited about it that I decided to wait a few days to calm down before I wrote about it. I felt as I walked out of the theater that this must be the greatest movie of all time, maybe even the greatest art of all time.

Better than Bach or Michaelangelo? -  I thought: Maybe I need to get a little perspective on this! Maybe it seems so great because I am more able to see, and to appreciate, than I have ever been due to the lengthened and deepened reflection of my old age, or maybe due to my increasing “child-like” perception and rejuvenation.

Perhaps the film is just incomparable, but there remains a part of me that still thinks and feels that it doesn't get any better than this.

There is a relatively long segment in the film devoted to education in Finland and one of the split-second images now in my mind forever is the fleeting look of pity on the face of a Finnish teacher when she learns of what we do to U.S. school children.

The general idea of the film is that Michael visits nine countries outside the U.S. to find and to appropriate ways for the U.S. to deal with issues such as education, food, crime, maltreatment of women, banking, health care, and crippling views of human nature as unsocial.

It's anthropology, sociology, psychology, and art, and religion, and fun.

There is a scene at the end in Berlin with Moore and a friend looking at remains of the Wall. He notes how people just started taking hammers and chisels and chipped away at the Wall. He says that it's really very simple: “Hammer,” “Chisel.” Keep at it.

If you have seen “Where to Invade Next” or are thinking of seeing it, the following video is also worth seeing. It is of an interview in which he discusses the making of the film and its meaning.