Quartile rating: 7.5/10 · 1 rating
A documentary about the closure of General Motors' plant at Flint, Michigan, which resulted in the loss of 30,000 jobs. Details the attempts of filmmaker Michael Moore to get an interview with GM CEO Roger Smith.
Roger & Me is a landmark documentary that essentially invented the 'ambush documentary' as a popular genre. Moore's pursuit of Roger Smith is a brilliantly simple narrative spine that exposes corporate indifference with darkly comic effect. The film's novelty is exceptional — its personal, confrontational, sardonic style was genuinely new and hugely influential. The ending, where Moore finally corners Smith at the GM shareholders meeting only to be brushed off, is devastatingly effective and thematically perfect. Cinematography is functional and guerrilla-style, appropriate but not exceptional. 'Acting' in a documentary context refers to Moore's on-screen presence and the subjects' authenticity — Moore is a compelling protagonist, though some sequences feel staged. The plot structure is remarkably tight for a documentary of this kind.