roger and me

Of course this is Moore's first movie, and although it was made on a very low budget, I thought it was just as great and touching as >Bowling for Columbine<. It was fascinating to follow Moore on his quest to get an interview with Roger, the untouchable and heroic (at least to Wall Street) CEO of General Motors, who was responsible for closing the GM plant in Flint, Michigan and 6 others across the United States (so that, for example, other factories could be opened in Mexico that would exploit the cheap labor forces). Moore not only shows us how the blue collar workers were affected by the lay-offs, but he has also managed to get the opinions of some members of the upper class of Flint. So, on the one side, you've got all these people that are getting thrown out of their homes because they don't have a job and can't pay the rent, and on the other side of town the rich are playing golf and throwing parties, condemning the unemployed for being lazy or not innovative enough. With some examples, Moore demonstrates that this kind of thinking is indeed wrong to a large extent; many people of Flint did try to find other ways of making a living, but certainly the means and possibilities available in a city that had just had the rug pulled out from under its feet are extemely limited. The film culminates with a Christmas speech wherein the speaker expresses how important it is for American citizens to be charitable and show good will to their fellow men, while yet another unemployed mother and children get kicked out of their house in Flint. An awesome documentary!!!

Roger and Me (1989) is now a frankly stupid documentary and one of the worst examples of "investigative" journalism but it did create a stir at the time of its release.

It begins as Michael Moore's video diary and scrapbook of life, as we're introduced to the man, his memories of life growing up in his home town of Flint, Michigan, and how depressing life has now become since General Motors made thousands of factory workers redundant.

We are then treated to scenes involving Michael Moore attempting to enter General Motors HQ and speak to Roger Smith, the CEO of General Motors laying people off. Naturally Moore runs into security guards and treats them with disdain. He then attempts to ambush Roger Smith at various events and places he is known to retreat to, and interlaced with these scenes are other scenes of Michigan life such as bailiffs knocking on allegedly former workers' doors and evicting families for non-payment of rent and scenes of parade and bustle as elites go about normal life (e.g. town politicians with no introspection about how the layoffs have ruined people's lives and Miss Michigan refusing to be speak ill or lay blame in relation to General Motor's lay offs).

There is a lack of investigative journalism here sadly. Moore's explanation for the layoffs (a.k.a. rant) comprises a string of personal allegations against the CEO concerning corporate greed and it is overwhelmingly not-investigative or enquiring because his assertions and links are glued together by anti-corporate bias and emphasis on choice without any serious analysis of happenstance or determinism in business. I agree there is an element of choice but General Motor's arguments were that it wouldn't survive otherwise and it will do what it takes. We live in a cruel world, American politics and corporatism is an even crueller world and the workers know it.

Watching the young Michael Moore's obsessive attempts to gain an interview with the CEO of General Motors is basically what passes for entertainment in this film. That may be entertaining and it is certainly entertaining seeing Michael Moore being palmed off and given the brush by many people inside General Motors, but it is a misleading documentary because apparently by all accounts he did in fact have another more extensive interview in the end with Roger Smith (not shown) and I think it's not justifiable that Michael Moore used deception to infiltrate General Motors and film workers.

Documentaries have moved on a great deal since 1989 and have become a lot more journalistic and revealing and insightful. This documentary is the perfect example of the impotency of Michael Moore-like journalists who, in their quest for film stardom and setting up corporate execs, create more heat than light (though I totally understand how workers would have felt and I am sure they couldn't give a toss ...hence I think the film is okay as anti-corporate propaganda).

Admittedly, this film would appeal more to residents of the US. But it is important as it first brought Michael Moore to prominence. It may not be generally known that there was an epilogue "Pets or Meat" (about 25 minutes long) which appeared on TV a couple of years later. It shows what happened to some of the principal actors since the original movie was shot. As you can guess from the title, the Rabbit Lady features prominently. Others figuring in it include the sheriff and the Amway lady.

This epilogue does not appear on DVD. It may not deserve a DVD by itself, but would certainly have been an useful extra on the "Roger and Me" DVD. The good news is that it can be downloaded, if you know where to look on the internet.