Review of Roger & Me (1989) by Davey M — 06 Mar 2008

Michael Moore's first film sees him already practically at his peak as an entertainer and satirist, and also already wildly, offensively manupulative. It raises a lot of troubling issues about capitalism and free enterprise without offering any real solutions--something is rotten in the state of Michigan, and the film is funny and furious and poignant and enraging (sometimes all at once, and probably not always intentionally) because of the deeply unfair dynamics between the Roger-like fat cats and the working-class everypeople.

It's dynamite social propaganda, possibly weakened (though certainly made more interesting and complex) by the liberties Moore takes--one should know, after watching the film, that Moore did, in fact, eventually meet with the Roger in question, that the rabbit-skinning woman suffers from extreme psychological problems, that many of the events occurred in a totally different chronology from the cause-and-effect structure Moore creates, and so on and so forth.

This doesn't render his argument invalid, or even untruthful to a certain extent (dishonest as it may be). But it does add a number of layers to an already complicated conversation. One of the most important documentaries from an historical standpoint (it almost single-handedly opened up the documentary to a broader commercial basis), and certainly a terrific film in a lot of ways.