Roger & Me

...Michael Moore should have stuck to the facts. I lived in the Detroit area (Milford, the home of the GM Proving Grounds) from the early 70's until 2002. The 80's were a rough decade for the auto industry.

Roger Smith became Chairman and CEO of GM in January, 1981. The man was an unmitigated disaster. Among some of the things he proposed was the elimination of GM's engineering division (pink slipping everyone). He didn't think that the world's largest automaker needed an in-house engineering capability. Absolutely moronic!

There were several other examples of Roger Smith's buffoonery. The viewing audience would have been better served had Mr. Moore stuck to the facts. There were several items in this film that were either staged or flat-out false (people who never worked for GM getting evicted, Pres. Reagan being quoted out of context, etc.). This is the typical tactic Mr. Moore uses in all his films.

The upshot? Mr. Moore is a gifted filmmaker and able storyteller. Unfortunately, he doesn't let the facts get in the way of the point he's trying to make. There was no shortage of material on what a moron Roger Smith was (is?). Had Mr. Moore kept with the facts, Roger & Me would not just be entertaining, it would have the added benefit of being factual.

Michael Moore recounts his prosperous working middle class life as a child in GM company town of Flint, Michigan. Everybody worked for GM except for Michael. He leaves his small paper he created to go to San Francisco. It doesn't go well and he returns to Flint. In 1985, GM CEO Roger Smith closes factories in Flint. Michael goes on a quest to get an interview with Roger Smith.

The criticism has centered on Michael Moore's manipulation of events in the movie. It's a valid argument if this is being measured against traditional documentaries. As a journalistic documentary, this has many flaws and possibly fatal flaws. As a reality-TV persuasion, this is a real ground breaker. While not every line is correct, the overall sentiment hits on a greater truth. Michael may portray himself as the underdog but he's a real giant.

Michael Moore's first major film was one of his best in my opinion for two reasons. First off, since he did not yet have a trademark style, he did not try to go over the top in this film as much as he does in his subsequent efforts. He does his normal routine of tracking people down in an effort to embarrass them by asking them pointed questions, but for most of the film he lets the story and the citizens of Flint do the talking. As you probably already know, this is the story of Moore's hometown, Flint, Michigan, and the utter despair that fell upon it after GM began shuttering auto plants under the supervision of then CEO Roger Smith. The film really highlights how clueless Flint's elite are as to the suffering that all of this "consolidation" is causing. At one point in the film Moore is talking to some wealthy people at a party who seem to think they are doing the unemployed some kind of favor by hiring them to act as living statues at one of their fêtes. When he asks the party goers about what is going on in Flint they seem somewhat offended that there is such "negative publicity" circulating and say there should be more emphasis on the positive things going on in Flint - they name the symphony and the opera. Ah yes, let them eat opera glasses!

The second reason I consider this film to be one of Moore's best is that even though this film was made in 1989, it is still interesting and relevant today. This is because the contrast between what average working people have to endure - the struggle to find secure jobs with decent benefits and their increasing vulnerability - and the desire of the captains of industry to improve the bottom line at any cost ... as long as it doesn't cost them ... has only worsened and deepened over the last 21 years since this film was first made.

I am quite shocked that no one else has commented on this film. This is quite possibly one of the most important movies in the last 20 yrs. Michael Moore by putting his own passion and blood into the making of this movie, showing corporate greed at all levels from political to civil , got an Oscar for this film and he pretty much cemented himself as one of the bravest and strongest directors ever.

I don't even know where to start with the review. Shot on location in Flint Michigan, with real people including former corrupt President Ronald Reagan, this movie it as real as it gets.

It pretty much started the whole documentaries on exposing corporate greed and well the downhill and moral decline of America (also shown in "The Big One" and "Bowling for Columbine" (which won the Oscar for Michael Moore).

Before I get more into depth of the movie, I asked you to remember these image in your heads to show you how sad the situation in Flint Michigan both in 1989 and 2003 are:

In the movie while General Motors is showing profits of over a billion dollars,they disgusting laid off over 25,000 factory workers. I repeat General Motors was showing a profit, not a loss, yet they decided to lay of thousands of people basically giving them a death sentence.

Most factory workers didn't have the money to pay for their mortgage and were evicted,during one scene in the movie as many as 25 people in one day were evicted even on Christmas Eve.

To show the real disgusting situation. A poor and mentally disturbed woman by the name of Rhonda Britton is so desperate to get money for her kids that she tries to sell Rabbits as pets. When that doesn't work she ends literally killing these poor animals and selling them as meat!!!! Which includes skinning them alive!!! The real sad part is that there a million dollar GM hotel only a few yars from where this women is doing this acts to get any form of help for herself.

Basically Flint , Michigan as shown in the movie, from once a booming celestial center of action, is now a corrupt, poor , and crime infested city with no hope even amidst the lies of former Presidents Clinton, Bush, and Reagan's promise that they "would change the situation".

In fact Reagan as shown in the movie uses Flint basically as a campaign ploy to elect himself during the 1980's. It's disgusting.

Now the plot deals with General Motors and their disgusting actions of laying of well basically everyone who works for them in the factory. Even amidst Union groups like UAW , and booming profits, GM pulls the most disgusting acts reported in corporate history.

Undoubtedly other sick American companies like Exxon and Enron followed in GM's footsteps.

So Michael Moore seeing the situation that is happening, makes this movie as he puts it during the trailer "I did this movie to raise the spirits of the workers". Indeed he did, but more importantly he showed America and the world corporate greed up close and personal and the many people covering up the lie that all is well on GM.

For instance Anita Bryant, Bob Eubanks and Pat Boone are 3 disgusting American celebrities who basically are hired by GM to fool the town into thinking everythings nice at Flint Michigan.

They hire them for Carnivals, parades, tourism, nything. In Eubanks case as shown in the film, this self indulgent pig is promoting his newlywed game. Eubank is one of the first celebrities that Moore exposes. Eubanks at first seeing Moore doesn't think that Moore wont do much damage.

And thats the big mistake that everyone at Flint Michigan does as quoted in the commentary by Moore "getting an interview with these people was easy...because they just took look one look at me and figured oh this isn't going anywhere".

My God how wrong those people are. As stated in the first sentence where Eubanks shows his antisemetic joke, he obviously didn't think Moore's movie would have any impact. but furthermore, Eubanks is the typical example of every greedy American pig in the movie. He thinks because he has power he can treat and offend those who don't have power and those who aren't around to listen to his offensive remarks.

Again backed up by Moore's commentary "This people thought they could be offensive ecause the groups that they were being offensive too weren't there." True cowardism and Moore's shows that too.

The movie moves on to show the Union groups attempt to gain their jobs back and get GM to turn the situation around but they fail. One of the reasons they failed is because the Union Managers themselves kept giving concessions to GM, meaningly they gave into GM demands without getting anything in return.... True stupidity.

The movie then shows us Moore's attempts to talk to and question the main man behind the GM scandal Roger Smith, the chairman and Ceo of Gm (this old greedy bastard is no longer the head of Gm).

Moore's attempts go awry at first, apparently Smith has goons stopping him and people like Ralph Nader from exposing the greedy Smith.

Eventually though using the fact that people underestimate him Moore does meet Smith (for 2 minutes basically) before Smith hightails it ouf there and Moore is removed from security from the Gm building at Chrismas no less!!! Where Smith aware of the unemployment, and crime wave hitting the city as a result of the layoffs still seeks to spew his lies and image of Gm into the media.

However by the end of the film. Moore wins, TV Channels and programs become aware of the situation going on and give Moore credit for exposing the situation.

"Roger and Me" was shown at over 200 Theaters in America. It won several awards at Cannes, gave Michael Moore instant credibility not just as a director but a man, an American, someone who stood up for the rights of others, stood up to the corruption and greed and his area and did something about it.

This movie really showed me what America's free enterprise system is about. Make your millions in producing automobiles in an American town, then run to Mexico where labor is cheap, and not offer any jobs to Americans. I loved it, very true, very deep.

I loved how Roger Smith dodged the film crews everytime they showed up. It was very good to show the effects of the plant closing shop. I never expected a true look into what happends to American workers.

I give this one 5 stars, and I realize now that our Free Enterprise System just keeps the poor, poor. And the wealthy get even more wealth. Our free enterprise system is a joke.