‘Roger and me’ is an American documentary film directed by Michael Moore. With humor and original broadcasting technologies, Michael Moore tries to meet General Motors Chief executive officer Roger Smith to understand what the point to fire 30,000 people is at the time. The title ‘Roger and me’ lets us think that there will be a confrontation between the two men. It announces that Michael Moore is vested in a mission: an approach to understand Roger Smith. We can guess that the interview will never happen. In fact the closest Michael Moore gets to Smith is an interview of GM public relations man who explains the layoff are regrettable but necessary. What is interesting is the contrast between this dressed in standard working-class suit unprofessional journalist and the powerful man who frequents yacht clubs and very private clubs. In this documentary Michael Moore seems to be the lawyer of all these unemployed people and try to find answers.
As he can’t reach Roger Smith, he tries to find answers elsewhere by following a sheriff who evicts unemployed autoworkers, by covering a Flint parade that marches behind abandoned and empty stores.
First it’s important to see how Michael Moore introduces himself in this context. Indeed all his family worked for GM and all of his childhood’s friends have been concerned by this action of closing several auto plants in Flint. In the same time Michael Moore has never hidden his intention to do something else. He knew since he was a child that he will never work for GM.
Secondly Michael Moore used several techniques to underline the difficult reality of this time. It is interesting to see how the scenes follow each other. Michael Moore also used in his documentary a mix of different materials to give intensity to his work.
The connection between Moore and Flint isn’t insignificant. Moore’s rage is spiced by nostalgia for the great days of his childhood. That’s why we can wonder if he remains subjective or not. Indeed he