Roger & Me

I still prefer "Bowling for Columbine" because it has a wider spectrum, but "Roger and Me" has also it´s great moments.

The most here write it´s a movie about GM. Well thats true, but it´s much more a movie about the people who worked for GM. Many here also think GM has the right to close it factories where and as much it wants. They see just GM gave the people in Flint work, they don´t see that the people of Flint also made it possible for GM to become that what it is. And, don´t tell me you need to close everything to survive! I bet if they closed the half or lowered the payments it had the same effect!

...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.

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.

This documentary focuses on a decision made by the CEO of General Motors, Roger B. Smith, to close several factories in Flint, Michigan and essentially lay off 30,000 workers who lived there. This decision had a catastrophic consequence for the city and to all of the people who lived there. But what I believe is even more important is that this documentary shows something that most people who embrace "free-market capitalism" don't fully appreciate and that is the difference between "stockholders" and "stakeholders". One would think a responsible corporate executive would realize that these two groups don't have to be mutually exclusive. Yet, even though this one decision was certainly bad for Flint, Michigan another aspect that people also don't see-and one that was not addressed in this video-is that this particular decision was one of many mistakes made by Roger B. Smith which eventually earned him the distinction of being named one of the "Worst American CEOs of all time" by CNBC. But I suppose in the minds of certain people since he and his buddies made millions everything is okay. Such is the mindset of the ignorant. At any rate, this was a good film and I have rated it accordingly. Above average.

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.