ROGER & ME
Sat, 12/7, 91 min, follows the Pennebaker Award presentation
BAY STREET THEATER
Director Michael Moore in attendance for discussion
Director: Michael Moore
Producer: Michael Moore
Editors: Jennifer Beman, Wendey Stanzler
Roger & Me, released 35 years ago, has aged well. Its message was prescient, capturing the devastating effects of globalization on the American middle class that have only gotten worse with time. Esquire magazine, in a 2014 article celebrating the film’s 25th anniversary, notes: “It remains the definitive documentary study of post-industrial America, a both chilling and heartwarming portrait of what happens when the economic order underlying society is altered, and the terms by which people live are completely transformed.” A darkly comical, satirical, and prophetic documentary, this was Moore’s directorial debut which he also wrote, produced, and starred in.
Ex-journalist Michael Moore demands answers when General Motors suddenly closes the doors of all its auto plants in Flint, Michigan, the city where he grew up. With over 30,000 people out of work – their jobs moved to Mexico – Flint is economically devastated, and Moore aims to track down General Motors CEO Roger Smith to make him answer for his actions. While on the search, Moore also chronicles the emotional effect the closings have had on his family and friends, while violent crimes begin to skyrocket in Flint.
The film has won numerous awards since its debut at the Toronto International Film Festival in 1989, and in 2013, was selected for preservation in the U.S. National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically or aesthetically significant.”