I usually like Michael Moore's films for taking a human interest approach to well established problems, and thereby bringing these closer to the viewer. That routinely invites criticism over his lack of factual basis, but when it's an American topic he's dealing with, the framework checks out. So "Bowling for Columbine", "Fahrenheit 9/11", "Capitalism - A Love Story" are all great films, because they make a case for a clear message.
What's problematic, though, is when Moore travels the world, because he picks certain elements out of a different culture and presents that as a better way that America could easily adapt. In "Sicko", he focused on Cuban health care being free and pulled the stunt to get US 9/11 firefighters treatment they were not granted in the States. That ignored the reality that a great deal of people wanted to get out for lack of perspective, and that free health care is an effective tool to rally public support for an otherwise unpopular political system.
In "Where to invade next", Moore presents a potpourri of European social systems, and being from there, it is extremely obvious that he randomly picks out certain aspects while ignoring where these come from. So Italy has a two-hour lunch break and the highest number of public holidays. However, the companies he shows are family run. Also, Italy has a high home ownership and a low mobility rate, so there is a more local business which allows generous lunch breaks and free time - there is less commute. Italy also has no industrial growth, bankrupt banks, a huge deficit, political instability and the highest exposure to the refugee crisis.
Some of Moore's points are good, like when he interviews the father of one of Breivik's victims in Norway who does not argue for the death penalty, because it is a proved fact that the death penalty does not lower crime. As is his point in regard to Finland that no homework actually elevates the grades of pupils. But in Slovenia, he focuses on free university education including foreigners - which is an exception, in most European countries foreign students ARE charged, while domestic students are not.
In Tunisia, he drives a far fetched angle from legal abortion to the Arab Spring, and while the argument of women's rights effecting positive social change is a good one, what happened to the Arab Spring? In Egypt, as in most of the Middle East, women's issues are far worse now, and Tunisia is the one small country where a fragile stability has taken hold. Everywhere else, the end of dictatorship means the rise of religious fanatics.
In Iceland, he chooses the example of the first female head of state, and a bank run by women which did not go bankrupt in 2008, to argue that female quota and leadership would reduce conflict and increase efficiency. Yet Margaret Thatcher was a woman, and that didn't make her leadership more peaceful or popular. Carly Fiorina is a woman, and that didn't make her more successful at Hewlett-Packard. It's the economic and political culture that determines the outcome, not gender, and the case for equality could be made without choosing random examples.
In France, he claims with a diagram without numbers that effective taxation in the US would be much higher, because many things for which Americans pay extra are covered through taxes. In France, 1 in 5 people are state-employed, so there are exemptions and funds for them, but not for others. Gentrification has driven rents so high in Paris that people with low-paying jobs are forced to sleep in parks or cars, and young French view their future the most negatively in Europe. While Moore was filming there, there was a movement against unemployment and government standstill, which he must have been aware of.
His most inaccurate comments concern Germany, however. He claims from visiting one factory that there is a 36-hour week, and that health care allows spa vacations, and that Germany makes an active effort to confront the demons of its past, making it a more open-minded society. In reality, manufacturing jobs may have 36 hours, but the much larger service sector hasn't. Germany has the highest effective taxation in the Eurozone owing to exploding health care costs - you face premium hikes of 10-15% a year, because the 0%-interest rate of our Central Bank eliminates insurer's and pension fund's profits. The memory culture is highly selective and symbolic, and the refugee crisis has led to a massive resurgence of xenophobia.
One Tunisian interview partner mentions that Americans tend to think they are the greatest country, which eliminates their curiosity about the rest of the world - that's a very good point. However, it doesn't help Americans to travel the world just in order to see what they want to see. Instead of looking for randomly selected points abroad, he should have focused on the problems back home.
What's problematic, though, is when Moore travels the world, because he picks certain elements out of a different culture and presents that as a better way that America could easily adapt. In "Sicko", he focused on Cuban health care being free and pulled the stunt to get US 9/11 firefighters treatment they were not granted in the States. That ignored the reality that a great deal of people wanted to get out for lack of perspective, and that free health care is an effective tool to rally public support for an otherwise unpopular political system.
In "Where to invade next", Moore presents a potpourri of European social systems, and being from there, it is extremely obvious that he randomly picks out certain aspects while ignoring where these come from. So Italy has a two-hour lunch break and the highest number of public holidays. However, the companies he shows are family run. Also, Italy has a high home ownership and a low mobility rate, so there is a more local business which allows generous lunch breaks and free time - there is less commute. Italy also has no industrial growth, bankrupt banks, a huge deficit, political instability and the highest exposure to the refugee crisis.
Some of Moore's points are good, like when he interviews the father of one of Breivik's victims in Norway who does not argue for the death penalty, because it is a proved fact that the death penalty does not lower crime. As is his point in regard to Finland that no homework actually elevates the grades of pupils. But in Slovenia, he focuses on free university education including foreigners - which is an exception, in most European countries foreign students ARE charged, while domestic students are not.
In Tunisia, he drives a far fetched angle from legal abortion to the Arab Spring, and while the argument of women's rights effecting positive social change is a good one, what happened to the Arab Spring? In Egypt, as in most of the Middle East, women's issues are far worse now, and Tunisia is the one small country where a fragile stability has taken hold. Everywhere else, the end of dictatorship means the rise of religious fanatics.
In Iceland, he chooses the example of the first female head of state, and a bank run by women which did not go bankrupt in 2008, to argue that female quota and leadership would reduce conflict and increase efficiency. Yet Margaret Thatcher was a woman, and that didn't make her leadership more peaceful or popular. Carly Fiorina is a woman, and that didn't make her more successful at Hewlett-Packard. It's the economic and political culture that determines the outcome, not gender, and the case for equality could be made without choosing random examples.
In France, he claims with a diagram without numbers that effective taxation in the US would be much higher, because many things for which Americans pay extra are covered through taxes. In France, 1 in 5 people are state-employed, so there are exemptions and funds for them, but not for others. Gentrification has driven rents so high in Paris that people with low-paying jobs are forced to sleep in parks or cars, and young French view their future the most negatively in Europe. While Moore was filming there, there was a movement against unemployment and government standstill, which he must have been aware of.
His most inaccurate comments concern Germany, however. He claims from visiting one factory that there is a 36-hour week, and that health care allows spa vacations, and that Germany makes an active effort to confront the demons of its past, making it a more open-minded society. In reality, manufacturing jobs may have 36 hours, but the much larger service sector hasn't. Germany has the highest effective taxation in the Eurozone owing to exploding health care costs - you face premium hikes of 10-15% a year, because the 0%-interest rate of our Central Bank eliminates insurer's and pension fund's profits. The memory culture is highly selective and symbolic, and the refugee crisis has led to a massive resurgence of xenophobia.
One Tunisian interview partner mentions that Americans tend to think they are the greatest country, which eliminates their curiosity about the rest of the world - that's a very good point. However, it doesn't help Americans to travel the world just in order to see what they want to see. Instead of looking for randomly selected points abroad, he should have focused on the problems back home.