Movie title: “#Where to
Invade Next.”
Don’t be misled by the
title. The idea is that we invade other countries
to take what we want. This time, Moore has “Invaded” various countries to find
valuable philosophical attributes and bring them back to the US. Astounding. Wonderful.
The film was playing at
the #Bijou Art Theater in Eugene,
Oregon, not in one of the “big” theaters. They will wait to see if it is a
blockbuster. Maybe if Moore is nominated
for an award, then they will show it. (My seven-year-old grandson has
gotten sarcasm already, guess I have taught it to him.)
I missed an opportunity
to be involved in a discussion that was happening outside the theater. A few people
were standing in a group talking. As my
husband and I walked past I figured they were friends visiting, but on second thought, I
said, “I bet they were discussing the film.” I should have poked my head
in. Opportunity missed.
And then I read that
theaters are having a hard time clearing people out of the lobby after seeing
the film, for they want to discuss it.
Imagine.
I don’t want to be a
spoiler for the film, but some things sang to me with such vigor I have to say
something.
Imagine,
a school with no homework. “Children should play,” the principal said. “They have other things
they need to do when they go home.” I have said for years that if a school can’t
jam enough information into a child’s head in the 6 hours they have them, they
aren’t doing their job. For heaven’s sake, why
send work home? Remember endless pages of long division we had to do at home? Educators then
thought that children learn by rote when people
learn better by discovery.
The school
system implementing that philosophy ranks
the highest in education. Their advice to us, “Stop teaching to the tests.” And I won’t even
mention that a gourmet kitchen Moore found was, in fact, a school cafeteria where
children were seated at tables set already with china plates, then served a healthy
appetizer, main course, a cheese dish, and dessert, and they drink water. This
was not a private school—no private schools there.
I had to say it. But I
can’t steal any more of Moore’s thunder,
you must see it. Don’t take the children,
though, a few scenes in American prison’s are brutal. Generally, however, it is impactful and upbeat.
A lady in Iceland
looked us straight in the eye and said that she wouldn’t live next door to an
American, they don’t take care of each other. They think in terms of Me instead of We. And they don’t care.
Moore said, “I do.”
Me too.
How about you?
