There was a time that I lapped up anything that was produced by Micheal Moore because I believed that his documentaries exposed the greedy and corrupt nature of American capitalism. The truth is that there is a lot about what he is producing that is simply not true, or even if it is true, does not actually set the scene properly.
In case you're not aware, Roger and Me faced significant controversy from essentially political opponents, but also some scholars. Moore was charged with selective editing, shifting time relations (so that events seemed to follow one another when they didn't in reality) and so on.
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.
When General Motors chairman Roger Smith closed the factory doors in the once prosperous auto capitol of Flint, Michigan, the subsequent citywide depression prompted filmmaker Michael Moore onto a personal quest to confront the GM executive with the consequences of his corporate greed. The result is an irreverent but sobering report that works better as a satire than a documentary, mocking the rich and defending the poor with an almost savage disregard for objectivity.
With absolutely all of Michael Moore's "documentaries" he lies from start to finish. He actually had a meeting during the filming with CEO Roger Smith.
For a beautiful representation of the divide between the have and have nots of this world, you cant go past 'Roger & Me'. Though quite dated in the aesthetics department, this 1988 doco by master left wing film maker 'Michael Moore', remains a poignant vision of greed and destruction of a town where the major industry (General Motors - who despite record profits up to then decided to close 11 U.
At a young age Michael Moore's own father got attacked by the American Army, when he went on strike at the biggest car manufacturer plant in the world (GM). And guess what?
The irony of this film is if Roger Smith, then Chairman and CEO of General Motors, had agreed to Michael Moore's request in 1987 when Moore began production, there wouldn't be a film, or at least it wouldn't be half as interesting as it turned out. Moore simply wanted to interview Smith and take him on a day-tour of Flint, Michigian where he and the GM executives decided to close several of their car-manufacturing plants.
Before the success of films like Bowling for Columbine and Fahrenheit 9/11, documentary director Michael Moore started small with this "one- off" which was considered great viewing by the critics, and being in the book of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die I was definitely going to watch. This film documents the regional negative economic impact of car manufacturing company General Motors to the town of Flint, Michigan, with several of the auto plants closing and causing the loss of over 30,000 jobs (80,000 to date).
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