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Roger & Me is Academy Award winner Michael Moore's first attempt to ruffle the feathers of corporate America through his controversial filmmaking. In this documentary, Moore doggedly pursues General Motors chairman Roger Smith, in an attempt to get Smith to go to Flint, Michigan to see the devastation the closing of and layoffs at Flint's GM plants caused the community. Smith was the man behind GM's decision to shut down factories in Flint and move them to Mexico, where cheap labour and low operating costs would result in much higher profits. Unfortunately that decision destroyed the community of Flint and its economy. Thousands of people were left unemployed and despite Flint's efforts to rebuild its economy by turning the city into a tourist destination (the opening of a convention hotel and a theme park called Auto World both failed miserably), it seemed the only person in the city of Flint whose job remained secure was the gentleman who was in charge of kicking people out of their home when they could not pay their rent. With its ravaged economy and a rising rate of crime, a national magazine soon listed Flint, Michigan as the worst place to live in the entire United States.
Roger & Me is the movie that put Michael Moore on the proverbial map. The movie was highly acclaimed and considered one of the top films in 1989, the year in which it was released. Surely the general public's appreciation of this movie helped progress Moore's career as a controversial author as well as his involvment in both television and film. It is in Roger & Me that we would first witness Moore's determination and persistance as he continuously gets thrown out of buildings, removed from "private" properties and ignored at GM public functions. Moore does an excellent job of showing us how corporate America is driven by the almighty dollar and shows no allegiance to the country that made it successful.
I'm sure there will be those who criticize Moore's apparent one-sided view. He seems to show us only the most devastating results of the plant shut-down and layoffs. I'm sure not every person who lost their job at GM ended up in jail, working for Taco Bell, losing their home or clubbing helpless bunnies for money. There had to be some stories of success and people who were knocked down but bounced right back up. But really, Moore had a point to make and I think he did a pretty damn good job of making it. And from what I saw in that movie, he gave General Motors and specifically Roger Smith plenty of opportunity to defend his actions and his decision to the people of Flint. Smith flat-out refused to speak to Moore. And that in itself says a lot. It was disappointing to watch and really makes you wonder about some of the people who run these big corporations and hide behind their six-figure salaries, million dollar bonuses and stretch limousines. They have no problem screwing small communities and destroying lives as long as their billion-dollar empires continue to make money for them and their small band of pompous friends. I just hope that someday Michael Moore makes a movie about Enron or Arthur Anderson or Nortel or that guy who ran Tyco and screwed the company out of millions. I'm sure not every big corporation is run like this but when one of the biggest in the world (General Motors) can pack up its bags and move to Mexico without even missing a beat, it really does make you wonder about the power of the almighty dollar.
Besides Moore's incisive look at GM and the community of Flint, the DVD also includes the movie's original trailer and a full commentary by Michael Moore himself. This commentary was taped a couple of months after Moore picked up his Oscar for Bowling for Columbine, so it was quite a number of years after Roger & Me was taped. His commentary is quite interesting as Moore talks a lot about filming the movie, how he barely had a cent to his name at the time of the filming and basically how 15 years later, nothing has really gotten better in Flint. The commentary is definitely worth a listen.
Overall, Roger & Me, as Michael Moore's first attempt to put on film his rather one-sided look at an issue dear to his heart, is an excellent piece of work. I have to admit, I much more enjoyed both Bowling for Columbine and Fahrenheit 911 but that is not to say that Roger & Me is not a substantial piece of work. I can remember 14 years ago, one of my professors at university telling our political science class that if there was one movie we were going to watch that year, to watch Roger & Me. I never did heed his wise words and finally got around to watching it just a few days ago. Despite the fact that the DVD is disappointingly thin on extras, the movie itself is quite a biting commentary on the state of corporate America. I would even go so far as to say that in the 15 years since the movie was made, very little has changed. It even seems that things in Flint have changed very little too. Perhaps the only thing that has really changed is that Michael Moore is a much weathier man than he was when he filmed Roger & Me. On the cover of Roger & Me, there is a quote that calls the movie a "triumphant comedy". I do not remember laughing even once after watching the movie. There are not many happy moments in Roger & Me. Thanks for nothing, Roger.
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