The production by Michael Moore, “Where to Invade Next,” is a documentary that gives us a detailed look at the lifestyle of people in various countries. Today, I will focus more on the first part of the film, where Michael visits three European countries: Italy, France, and Finland.
In Italy, Michael is greeted by an Italian couple who talk about vacation days in Italy. They say they get about 30-35 paid vacation days each year, in addition to 12 days off for national holidays. When you get married, you receive 15 paid vacation days, and in December, you get a “13th salary” as a full extra month’s pay. If you don’t use all your vacation days in a year, you can carry them over to the next year. Experts believe Italians have a long life expectancy because they don’t get sick from stress, thanks to all the vacation days they receive. Michael also visits a factory where one of the managers describes the working conditions: every day, employees get a 2-hour lunch break, during which they can go home, but they are also provided with a meal at work. They believe there is no conflict between the company’s profit and the well-being of the employees because it’s important to work with happy people.
In the second part of the film, Michael goes to the best place to eat: a French school cofetăria. French students always have hot meals at school, designed by nutritionists. They learn to eat civilly and healthily and believe that American food can’t really be called food. According to a study, French and American people pay almost the same amount in taxes, but Americans do not receive as many benefits.
Michael Moore also goes to Finland, the country with the most educated people. Here, he visits a school where students talk about their school activities: their homework takes a maximum of 10 minutes, their school schedule is 20 hours a week, and they have one of the shortest school years in the world. They have various subjects to develop their art skills and many programs for outdoor activities. There are no differences between schools, with all students being educated in the same way. How did the Finns become the most educated people? Simple, they believe that “school is about finding happiness.”
As a conclusion, for me, this film was very interesting, and I learned many new things about certain countries that I didn’t know before. I definitely now have a different perspective when I think about the happiness of people in Italy, the school cafeterias of French students, or the quality of education in Finland.
MAYA TABĂRĂ
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