Movie Reviews

Seeing the brilliant Bowling For Columbine made me interested in catching up on Michael Moore's other films, so I started with Roger & Me, Moore's first film, funded mainly by Tuesday-night bingo games that Moore held in his garage.

As in Bowling For Columbine, Moore tackles a problematic issue by relentlessly hounding (who he feels to be) the responsible individuals and trying to get them to answer really difficult and direct questions in front of his camera. Roger & Me is about the town of Flint, Michigan, and the 30,000 layoffs that occured in the late 1980s when General Motors decided to shut down a number of its largest factories. GM was far and away the largest employer in Flint, and after they closed their doors, Flint began a transformation into something of a ghost-town. Moore spends the entirety of the film attempting to get an interview with GM's CEO, Roger Smith, and although he is ultimately unsuccessful, he meets some really interesting people along with way (like the lady who breeds and sells rabbits for "pets or meat").

Similar to Bowling For Columbine, Moore's position in Roger & Me is not necessarily the "right" position. Regardless, Moore's skill and technique in communicating his position is so entertaining (and quite often really funny) that it's hard not to see where he's coming from and at least partially agree with him.