Watch Roger & Me For Free

It’s an especially fun movie from a director and cast who are clearly having a good time allowing themselves to let loose.

if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

The acting in this movie is really good.

I first heard of this documentary when it was praised by Chicago legendary film critics, Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel on their television show. This documentary shows how General Motors built and destroyed Flint, Michigan. The factories closed and unemployment soared as thousands became jobless. Michael Moore is a rebel with a cause. He wants justice and fairness. The fat cats like Roger Smith, Chairman of General Motors, is the Roger in the film. Moore has watched his hometown of Flint, Michigan into a ghost town with abandoned houses and closed businesses. Moore wanted answers from Roger about how he could allow this happen to Flint. It is obvious that Roger Smith and the other fat cats have no conscience about closing factories and laying off thousands of employees.

There was a time that I lapped up anything that was produced by Micheal Moore because I believed that his documentaries exposed the greedy and corrupt nature of American capitalism. The truth is that there is a lot about what he is producing that is simply not true, or even if it is true, does not actually set the scene properly. This film is a case it point – it is not really a film about an American company that is exploiting its workers, and destroying the planet through pollution, it is rather an ninety minute moan about how a bunch of factories closed in his home town and the effect that it had upon the town itself.At the beginning, he suggested that the reason that the plants closed was so that they could move the plants to Mexico where labour is much cheaper, and the truth is that this is happening all the time, but he seems to completely ignore the fact that Toyota still have factories in the United States which are employing workers, paying them decent wages, and making a profit. Some suggest that it is because Toyota makes better cars, and that is probably the case, however I am not one to comment because I have only ever owned one car, so I really don't have much to compare with (though I owned the Australian version of a GM, while my Dad owned a Toyota, and to be honest with you, I could not really tell the difference).Another reason why factories are closing and workers are losing their jobs is because of something called progress. With the introduction of robotics, there has been less need for workers to do the work that robots now do, but he seems to suggest that this is a bad thing. However, the company must remain competitive, and if the company were not to bring in a robotic workforce simply to keep people in a job, then that company is going to find itself in trouble. Further, with the onset of the GFC, GM actually did end up going bankrupt, and that was despite all of the cost saving measures that Roger Smith had put in place.While I am not endeared to the Republican propaganda that has surfaced with regards to Michael Moore, what we find is that Moore simply uses the same tactics as they do to simply make his point. The truth is that one needs to rise above those lies and deceits that are used to create a picture of reality that is simply not true. We have seen this recently in the Australian election, but the truth is that I suspect that the Australian people did not actually buy all of the rubbish that the Liberal party were putting out over the media, but rather they were simply sick of the in fighting and the back stabbing that was the Labour Party, and I suspect that if the Labour Party were to pull themselves together or (as I suspect will happen) the Coalition crash the economy in the same way the George Bush crashed the American economy, the there will be a massive swing away from them.

As a prototypical youngest child I have an affinity for feather-ruffling and rabble-rousing. As such, I love these types of movies hence the 8-star rating. Still, this film bothered me in a few ways; the primary one is the basic question of exactly what do corporations owe their employees? Tastes change, technology changes, and not surprisingly business tactics change. I am not sure if Moore or the employees stated this, but what exactly did they want/expect? Of course they wanted to retain their jobs but as I understand it the owners of corporations are looking for increased profits. Cutting costs are one way to do that. One way GM found to cut costs was to manufacture abroad. So, why wouldn't GM do that? Due to employee loyalty? I'm not sure a corporation can exist if employee loyalty comes before profits. I think Moore should have also gone after primary stockholders/owners as well.As I watched, I had a similar thought that I had to consider the source and remember that Moore is a business man and being controversial sells tickets. I had that same feeling watching Sicko. It's like Moore's documentaries outcomes are predefined and he will see to it that it turns out that way. I thought Moore's asking those presumably rich people(and Miss Mich) their impromptu thoughts on the situation was unfair. I would welcome more intelligent debate where both sides are given some time to prepare. Why Roger didn't talk to Moore surprised me maybe Moore liked it that way. After all, did Moore truly do all he could to get an interview? I will bet you this. If on hiring day, every employee was informed that in the future GM may adopt tactics that would result in job losses, but that if this occurred laid-off employees might receive a severance package, the vast majority would still have taken the job regardless of these known pitfalls.To me, going to work for a corporation is a buyer-beware situation. As employees we need to maximize our time there. Take your vacations, max out your 401K, take advantage of tuition assistance, get physicals, and watch the behaviors of those successful counterparts who always seem to be in the right place at the right time. Also, if corporations worry you, don't work for them, go to work for a private firm but don't get there and complain about all the benefits your buddies at Verizon (or wherever) are getting.On a side note (perhaps somewhat relevant considering all the layoffs we're experiencing), we Americans need to start living more practically. If you make $50K/year live like you make $43K. If you participate in a 401K plan remember that a 401K is not a rainy-day account, it is a retirement plan. If you do not need a 2000sqft home, don't buy one. Cars and kids don't need their own bedrooms. Smaller homes encourage us to get out of the house which is not a bad thing. While having your own bathroom is convenient, it is so for about 30 minutes/day: SHARE them.Gas prices fluctuate. If you find yourself stressing about that, buy a smaller car and drive less....it can be done. Instead of packing up the bikes and kids and driving them to a bike trail, ride your bikes to the store, bank, video store, zoo, etc.... Also, smaller cars get you from point A to point B exactly like big cars do...only cheaper. While driving smaller, efficient vehicles is not considered cool is beyond me, this means the driver is smart and may have more money to spend...on you. This is not to say that you shouldn't have a comfy car....the problem is when people pull out food-stamps then hop into a brand new Maxima or Escalade.

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 Morres 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.Remember, this is before the twin disasters of NAFTA & GAAT in the 1990's by Bubba's Administration & Party in 1993. Moores pursuit of Smith is super imposed over the compelling story of the suffering in Flint. All the story telling in this is well done.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. TCM recently ran an edited version of this "R" Rated Classic.