Review of Roger & Me (1989) by Jesse J — 16 Nov 2007

This movie does a wonderful job exposing the tragedy behind the downfall of Flint's middle class, and this happened way before the rest of Michigan began to really struggle. He tries to interview the CEO of GM at the time (Roger Smith) to no avail.

Some may criticize his attempts to pass security and restlessly try to interview the people at the top, but it helps prove his point. Roger was out of touch! All he thought about was how his already prospering auto comapny could get even richer if he were to close shop in Flint.

Sadly, Flint's economy was dependant on all those workers, so when he took it all away and stayed rich in the process, an angry city was left behind. Viewers also get to see a man whose job is to enforce evictions on people who had lost their jobs due to Roger, and as a result, could no longer pay for rent or their mortgage (whichever happened to be the case, depending on the home).

The man doesn't like the job, but it's a job, so he does it to avoid ending up like the people he evicts. While that part is very sad, the most disturbing part is when Michael interviews one of the men on top, and he talks about how the business had only one obligation: to maximize profits.

What a thankless job for all the people who made those profits possible in the first place. I like the free market, but this mentality by many of the elite is a dangerous, catastropic mentality. People like Roger could just close shop, pack up and leave Flint behind, and still be doing just fine, but those thousands of people were more than pawns in the system.

They were (and still are) people, just like Roger.