ROGER & ME in Our Own Backyard
Another Humble Review
A film review by Charles Quinn
Copyright 1990
reprinted by permission from The McGill Tribune Jan. 16, 1990
"You know when they send you flowers? They send you flowers when you die." - An autoworker after being laid off in Flint, Michigan.
Hold the flowers--Michael Moore is alive and well. Alive and well due to the success of his first film, ROGER & ME.
Roger (Roger Smith, the chairman of General Motors) & Me (Moore) is the story of a boy and his town, and how the town goes from boom to bust. It is also the story of the reaction the town has to going bust, both by the people affected, and the people responsible. But above everything else, it is the story of Michael Moore's attempt to bring Roger Smith to Flint Michigan to see what his decision to close eleven factories, and lay off 35,000 people has done to the town in Smith's backyard.
Under normal circumstances, this would not be the stuff that an entertaining movie would be based on. In fact, most people would probably prefer a root canal to seeing the suffering of families being evicted from their homes on Christmas Eve, and the skinning of a rabbit. But, to fall into that trap would be to underestimate the acid wit of Michael Moore.
Returning to Flint after a very brief stint as editor of MOTHER JONES in California, Moore discovers that Flint is going downhill at an alarming rate. General Motors is starting to close some of its factories in order to move them to Mexico where the labour is cheaper. Unfortunately the factories keep on closing until they are all gone.
Well, almost all. Moore takes pains to point out that there still is a single factory left, but it is making lint rollers. Not exactly automobiles, but "At least people's clothes will be lint free."
It is this ability to point out the absurdity that abounds when corporate America has gone wrong that make this film not only entertaining, but enlightening.
The film's strongest point is its ability to cut back and forth between the affluent and the destitute. One minute he will be showing street after street of vacant houses to the Beach Boy's "Wouldn't it be Nice." And in the next minute having Anita Bryant, the Orange Juice Queen, tell us that there is a lot that America has to be proud of - though she is only able to think of "Freedom, and sunshine."
Not willing to rest, Moore keeps on going at a frantic pace. He tries to visit Smith's office, and after being told that Smith is currently unavailable, Moore shows us the desperation of some families being evicted by deputy Fred (who Moore points out is actually a nice guy, and is fortunate to have a job -- however unpleasant it might be.) Then, without a breath, he cuts to a group of ladies playing golf, who feel that there really is not a problem in Flint, except that there are a few too many lazy people. "They could find jobs if they wanted to." Then it is back to more families being thrown out by deputy Fred, this time with the General Motors chorus singing Christmas carols ("You'd Better Watch Out") in the background.
By the end, Moore has not been able to talk with Smith, much less convince him to visit Flint. However, this does not mean that Moore has given up. In an unusual agreement with the distributors, Warner Brothers and Famous Players have agreed to leave a seat empty at every screening. This is just in case Smith ever decides that he wants to see the result of his actions in his own back yard.
Which of course is the whole point to the movie, that this can happen in our own back yard, and that if it does that we should not shun the problem. Rather, as Roger & Me urges, we should attack it. Unfortunately, if you count the slashing of VIA rail, the closing of numerous fish plants in Atlantic Canada, and the closing of several automobile factories in Southern Ontario (one of which is ironically being moved to Flint), we can see that Moore is right. It can happen here, and in fact, it is.
Charlie Quinn -- chk@calvin.cs.mcgill.ca The McGill Tribune McGill University, Montreal, Quebec phone: (514) 398-6789/3666 fax: (514) 398-7490
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