| Ex-journalist
Michael Moore's blistering, satirical documentary about
the closing of the General Motors plants in Flint,
Michigan in the mid-1980s. This move, which eliminated
33,000 jobs and left the one-industry town destitute,
was a particularly bitter tragedy, considering that
Flint was the town that gave birth to General Motors
during post-war boom era of the 1950s. The film revolves around Moore's
dogged attempts to gain an interview with Roger Smith,
the elusive and well-insulated head of GM and the man
responsible for the layoffs. While tracking the
eponymous Roger, Moore takes time out to record the
devastation of Flint and the desperate, often
unintentionally hilarious attempts of the citizens and
the city fathers to deal with the catastrophe.
A personal and comical account of the
tough times of Moore's hometown of Flint, Michigan, the
birthplace of General Motors. When GM closed several
plants, 35,000 of the 150,000 residents lost their jobs.
Also known by the title: "Roger
and Me: A Humorous Look at How General Motors Destroyed
Flint, Michigan."
Filmed on location in Flint and Detroit, Michigan, in
16mm.
Released in Flint, Michigan December 19, 1989; released
in New York City and Los Angeles December 20, 1989.
Released on video June 20, 1990.
Shown at the 1989 Toronto Festival of Festival September
9 & 11; the Independent Feature Film Market (IFFM)
in New York City October 7, 9, & 15; the Greater
Fort Lauderdale Film Festival October 28; the London
Film Festival in November; the United States Film
Festival, Park City, Utah January 20-28; the Berlin Film
Festival in February, and the New York Film Festival.
The film also showed on PBS, along with a brief sequel,
"Pets or Food?"
Winner of the 1989 New York Film Critics Award for Best
Documentary.
Personalities featured in the movie included head of
General Motors Roger Smith, ex-president Ronald Reagan,
Deputy Fred Ross, Rhonda Britto (the "Bunny
Lady"), Flint Tourism Chief Steve Wilson, and the
now-former Miss America Kaye Lani Rae Rafko (who
represented Michigan in the pageant).
Michael Moore is a former journalist for the left-wing
San Francisco publication "Mother Jones." This
was his first film.
Warner Bros. bought "Roger and Me" for an
estimated $3 million. $25,000 of it went to families in
Flint left homeless by the closing of General Motors.
"Roger and Me" opened to great critical and
popular acclaim. Soon after its release, however, the
documentary came under fire when director Michael Moore
admitted that he had rearranged the chronology of events
for his own narrative purposes. Many people considered
this an unethical bending of the truth that they felt a
documentary should represent!!
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