Review of Roger & Me (1989) by Josh F — 28 Dec 2004

[color=black][font=Tahoma]It was nice seeing [u]Roger & Me[/u] as an adult, because it was a lot more difficult to watch this time, and gave me a lot more to think about. I honestly am struggling with whether or not it still merits a "10", in my mind, because I don't completely agree with the politics of the film anymore. It's still well constructed, and a groundbreaking film, redefining the way documentaries are made, so I guess I have to keep it at "10" level, but I had a lot of problems with its content, which I guess makes it that much more effective. I've said a zillion times that documentaries are usually designed to make you think, and this one definitely fits that description. Whether you agree with [i][font=Tahoma]how[/font][/i] it's trying to make you think, however, is entirely up to you, I think. [/font][/color].

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[u][color=black][font=Tahoma]Roger & Me[/font][/color][/u][color=black][font=Tahoma] is the story of documentary filmmaker Michael Moore's attempt to meet then General Motors chairman Roger Smith and ask him to come to his hometown, Flint, Michigan, birthplace of GM, and see how GM's massive plant closings have destroyed that town, as the fall of the American auto industry destroyed most of the state of Michigan, economically. I lived in Flint while my father worked for GM, so this film has always been personal to me as well. Moore documents not only the slow and depressing decline of the quality of life in Flint (at one point a magazine, either _Forbes_ or _Fortune_ declares Flint the worst place in America to live), from its high crime to its even higher unemployment, and the madness the citizenry go through to try to cope. They open a multi-million dollar hotel to attract tourism. They build an indoor amusement park. They build jails because many of them turn to crime. It just gets worse and worse, sadder and sadder, as Moore tries his damndest to get Roger Smith - blamed by many of the laid off workers - to come to Flint and see what his business decision has done. Can't tell you whether he succeeds or not, but I can tell you that it's an extremely entertaining ride.[/font][/color].

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[color=black][font=Tahoma]First let's talk about how this film redefined the documentary. This film is an autobiographical look at an issue that means a lot to Moore and how he thinks of it. IMO, you wouldn't have movies like [u]Always a Bridesmaid[/u] (2000, Nina Davenport) or [u]Five Wives, Three Secretaries, and Me[/u] (Tessa Blake, 1998), or of course, [u]Supersize Me[/u] (Morgan Spurlock, 2004) without this thing. While I'm sure a far more knowledgeable film scholar will find a film that predates this one using this style to disprove my assertion, I know that this kind of filmmaking didn't become [i][font=Tahoma]popular[/font][/i] until this film. I always liked the way Michael Moore, champion of the common man, returned filmmaking [i][font=Tahoma]to[/font][/i] that common man with this movie. He reminded us that filmmaking is essentially a subjective experience, and that documentaries could be the most subjective kinds of films. IMO, it's our modern equivalent of the auto / biography at its best, as we move further and further away from a literate culture towards a visual one. You can't sleep on this film. It made a huge mark, did it well, and I'll always admire it for that. Moore is funny, poignant, and above all else entertaining as he makes his case that corporate America can destroy basic, working-class society, and his skill level in doing this is downright inspiring. Again, considering how many films and filmmakers he did inspire, I think I can say that with little argument.[/font][/color].

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[color=black][font=Tahoma]But what of the politics of the movie itself? Its basic argument is that corporations owe the employees that made them successful in the first place. To me, this is the American question of the 21st century, as profound as [u]The Grapes of Wrath[/u]'s assertion that it was wrong for man to exploit the misfortune of his fellow man. But in that case, the Depression was caused by an act of God - the dustbowl. Here Roger Smith closes plants. Exploiting misfortune? I would argue that Smith did what all modern day CEO's have to do - trying to save his job by making the most reasonable decision he could think of to please the shareholders, who fired him anyway. True, Smith mismanaged GM into the #4 or 5 auto manufacturer, after the big three Japanese companies. His sin was perhaps in not studying the competition (who, incidentally, offer lifetime employment), and thus running GM into the ground. But Moore argues that his mistake was in closing the plants, and I don't quite see the basis for that. The film is called [u]Roger & Me[/u], but is not about Smith's mismanagement. It's about the consequences of that mismanagement. This means Smith is an idiot, at best. How then, is his ineptitude to blame for these people's misery? If he's truly an idiot, we expect idiotic decision-making. Had he kept the plants open, and GM's decline continued, he'd still be an idiot. How is that his fault? Isn't it the shareholders who hired him in the first place? [/font][/color].

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[color=black][font=Tahoma]And finally, how innocent are these workers in their fates? Let's be real: all of those laid off workers could have spent their decades at GM going to school and becoming better educated, so they could resist unemployment better and move more easily. My aforementioned father was never fired from GM. He was transferred from St. Louis to Flint, and then later resigned when he wanted to move back to Chicago. He was able to do that because he had a college education. Roger Smith couldn't ruin his life. And while I love [u]Roger & Me[/u] for what it is, I don't quite agree with it as much anymore. The problems of American business, IMO, are complex. Not just the fault of any one person, but of a system that just plain doesn't work in a modern economy anymore.[/font][/color].

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