User Reviews

Roger Moore has an ability to touch a funny bone but at the same time to capture the irony and ambiguity of our capitalist system. He's told by a straight-faced lobbyist for GM that it's OK that CEO Roger Smith gets a several million dollar increase in salary while people are getting evicted from their homes in Flint, MI. It's good, we're told, that businesses make money. That's why they're in business: to make money, not to provide social welfare. The lesson is lost somewhat in the feeble attempt to instill the great "entrepreneural spirit" that made America great in a dying community. Moore's persistence to get to Roger Smith is neatly blocked at every path, until the final episode when they crash the Christmas party and get more sympathetic blather about how dreadfully sorry they are, but, (as we can infer from having seen The Godfather) "Nothing personal. Just business." We can see that point of clarification on where the sympathy of the Roger Smiths had such a great impact on the mother getting evicted from her home on Christmas Eve. Angry, foul-mouthed? Yes, she was...and in sharp contrast to the oily smoothness of Roger Smith when he looks at Michael Moore like I used to look at cooked spinach when asked to go to Flint to see conditions there.

Moore's messages are often attacked as being "socialist," as I saw in a recent posting of a review of his recent Fahrenheit 9-11. Worse, "communist," said another, contending MM should be jailed for treason and his film(s) burned. I must confess that much of what he said rings true with the old signal tocsin from my earlier Red-baiting days in the 50s when calling someone a "commie" was worse than suggestions about the questionability of their parenthood. Yet, the stark reality of seeing communities gutted by "down-sizing," and the desperate hopelessness of laid-off workers being evicted from their shabby homes is sobering. We're faced with the questions of why do we endure the tragedies of having our production forces shipped off-shore to enhance the profits of corporate management and the stock-holders at the expense of our own labor force? We're going to pay one way or the other. The social costs of out-sourcing are more costly to us as a society than any trickle-down benefits gained by upper management and large corporate stockholders. We pay, they play. And, we should acknowledge a debt to this unkempt, shaggy bear of an obnoxious man who's not afraid to shove a mike in the face of these moguls and giants of industry who are asking us to pay for their pleasure.

This film is the most creative of Moore's efforts. It details the plight of Flint, Michigan because of General Motors (GM) layoffs in the late 1980's. It is named Roger & Me because the films story line is Moore's pursuit of Roger Smith, the CEO of GM at this time, to find out why he is laying off all these workers & moving a bunch of jobs from Flint to Mexico.

This is before the twin disasters of NAFTA & GAAT in the 1990's by Bubba's Administration & Party in 1993. It is after Bubba's Party opened the doors for Free Trade in 1983. Moore's pursuit of Smith is super imposed over the compelling story of the suffering in Flint. All the story telling in this is well done. Trouble is the real target should have been Free Trade. Moore's vision is so narrow he misses the cause of Flint's problems.

Roger Smith made the decisions he made due to the tax law changes in 1983 for Corporations which gave the Labor Advantage to Foreign Workers. What a disaster we now have which Bubba Clinton, Smith and others made millions off. Because of Free Trade, the United States now has cleaner air than 89 other countries. The US is no longer a top polluter, all at the cost of several generations of American Workers who could not find jobs, and to our climate.

Multi-National Corporations used Free Trade to make more pollution worldwide, and make make climate change worse. Here Moore targets Smith and Reagan. Who should actually have been targeted are the 1983 Congress and Senate which were predominately Democratic and perhaps have inflicted the largest long term cost to the world and to Americans through their repeal of Franklin D. Roosevelts trade Controls he put in to make America strong and win World War 2 and beyond.

Roger Smith avoided Moore for a reason- he was afraid that Moore was not intelligent enough to understand why Smith was making decisions that were a disaster to the United States, but were being caused by the United States Government and the Democratic Party. Smith knew it would be a waste of time to explain that to the film maker.

FDR realized Free Trade does not work. It gave rise to Hitler and Stalin, and others in the 1930's. Now, Free Trade as started in 1983 and then the doors swung wide open in 1993 by Bill Clinton and others has given rise to Putin and China, much less the other threats from North Korea, Iran and other countries who see an America weakened by free trade.

The film clips of GM's heydays in the 1950's with Pat Boone & Dinah Shore provide a great intro to the film. There are several dramatic reactions by auto workers getting laid off & their desperation. The city of Flints angst is well documented too.

Moore never does catch Roger Smith. This is too bad because historically there is a very solid reason that GM started moving these jobs out of the country. Roger Smith would not have told the full truth if he had caught him. Smith would have told Moore that GM was doing the job exodus to remain competitive if cornered.

There is something more important which Moore missed & Smith would not tell. The reason GM had to move those jobs is because of a change in Corporate Taxes pushed through in the 1986 Tax Law changes. That change eliminated from the Corporate Tax code the cost of the legal deductions of employee benefits by American Corporations. This made American jobs less competitive with other countries.

Government did this in 1986 because they already knew the effect that baby boomer's aging would have on Medical costs, & knew if they remained deductible on US Corporations books, our Government could not afford the future cost of them being deductible. Before you blame Reagen for this, a reminder, the House & Senate were both controlled by Democrats when this passed.

Moore is not smart enough to figure this out, which is why this film does not rate a 10 with me. If American Corporations could still deduct employee health benefits on their taxes, there would be no need for National Health Care, & it would start to counter balance some of the effect of NAFTA & GAAT by making the American worker more competitive again. Unfortunately, that is not in both "Parties" best interest.

Post Script - Roger Smith (executive) Roger Bonham Smith (July 12, 1925 - November 29, 2007) was the Chairman and CEO of General Motors Corporation from 1981 to 1990, and is widely known as the main subject of Michael Moore's 1989 documentary film Roger & Me.

In 1981, Smith got the worlds largest car company and instead of looking for ways to grow the company which had more assets than any in the world, he started to destroy it. The results of his tenure became clear in less than 2 years after his death when GM went bankrupt and reorganized with major Federal Government help.

This movie has a historic sequence where Michael Moore alternates between his cop throwing people out of their homes who have lost GM jobs due to Smith, and Smith giving one of the most stupid Christmas speeches ever made by a CEO. Fortune Magazine has given Smith a very much deserved credit for destroying the worlds largest corporations, and this film illustrates it clearly. Trouble is what clearly was behind Smith's decisions were the Free Trade Laws which started in 1983.

TCM (Turner Classic Movies) ran an edited version of this "R" Rated Classic. The original is a very hard edged documentary. Too bad that like a Russian Missile that boomerangs the filmmaker is aiming at the wrong targets.

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.S factories country wide & relocate them to Mexico paying the Mexican workers 70 cents / hr,) has shut up shop leaving 13,000 'Flint' locals out of a work. The flow on effect is catastrophic on the working class leaving many destitute fighting poverty and the eviction crew (evicting dozens of people a day, piling their belongings on the nature strip!), while they are unable to find further employment due to many of the town's businesses folding. No incomes means no spending, no spending means failed business. No businesses, means no jobs, no job no in come....well you get the picture. What is greatly insightful is the absolute ignorance the 'Wealthy' display of the troubles in their town, while playing a round of golf and discussing how many of the workers "Just don't want to work"!!!! Just goes to prove things don't change in society, the poor continue to get shafted & the rich are on the whole, selfish, in-sightless, arrogant pricks! I love the smooth over job by G.M, building a music hall and providing performances by crooner Pat Boone & other cabaret stars for half price for those out of work! Having the audacity to import a 'major' preacher to blow smoke up the population's collective arse. Just shows the contempt this company holds and the lengths it will go to distract them from the reality of their predicament! The G.M C.E.O chase is on in true 'Moore' fashion, his mission, a few answers and maybe a bit of interrogation. Looks like he'll have to look beyond his multi million dollar estate,the yacht or golf club!

General motors did a damn fine job of creating this apocalyptic landscape for the camera to document and Michael does a fine job of showing the bleakness and giving the viewer an insight of the people's painful predicament.