Michael Moore, who is an esteemed low budget producer, made an extravagant film back in 1989 entitled "Roger & Me." I recall seeing this film during my freshman year for English class and after seeing it again, the documentary that depicts corporate greed in the real world, still strikes me.
Moore brings us to Flint, Michigan which I believe he stated was his hometown. He shows us the General Motors plant that employs a huge workforce there and how in the preceding years they had laid off massive amounts of its workforce, which he depicts as the heart of the city and a "run of the mill" part of Michigan.
Mr. Moore begins his journey by trying to get a candid interview with plant owner and chairman Roger Smith who, as word has it, has a lot to do with more closings that are about to come within the next year.
Downtown Flint as seen from the Flint River.
Official seal of City of Flint
Rutherford Smith and Romeo PetersThis is the subject of the film, more or less. Moore, as comical in nature as he is, tries to show us how evasive Roger Smith is to any type of interview or consultation. But as the film progresses, any viewer can see that the interview "just ain't gonna happen." After GM closes their plant in Flint, the city pretty much has the outward appearance of a very poor "ghost town" per se. This of course sends crime rates skyrocketing, unemployment rates elevating, and aura of the city plummeting.
As the film progresses, Moore tries very obtrusively, yet comically, to contact GM Chairman Roger Smith. He actually went to GM headquarters with is camera crew and got as close as he could, which included (but not limited to) getting in the headquarters elevator and trying to go straight to Smith's office (the top floor), but eventually gets...