It's the story of Michael Moore's quest to get then GM CEO Roger Smith to come back to Flint, Michigan to see the devastation caused by the closing of all the GM plants. The film follows Moore as he meets several Flint residents who are down on their luck after being laid off from GM and it shows the comical lengths that the city of Flint went through to make their dying city attractive once again. As Moore tries to track down Smith he takes us deeper and deeper into the depths of Flint's despair and depression. But as he does so he also make us laugh, in retrospect though most of the laughs are now rueful whistlin' past the graveyard laughs of recognition because after what NAFTA, Bush the elder, and Bush the Idiot have done, the rest of the USA is catching up to where Flint was many years ago.What struck me hardest as I watched this film again was all the money the city of Flint wasted on trying to bring Flint back when they could have spent that money on retraining laid off workers and luring businesses back. Instead of doing those things they spent boatloads of cash on flying in Robert Schuller, the snake oil minister who loves money more than a fat kid loves cake, for a city wide pep talk. They also flew in Pat Boone and Anita Bryant who cheerily told the downtrodden citizens of Flint to cheer up because they lived in a great free country and to look on the positive side of being laid off with no prospects on the horizon. Of course all three, Schuller, Boone, and Bryant, flew out soon after with their pockets filled with appearance fee money. The city also wasted money on building an indoor theme park, a luxury downtown hotel, and a huge shopping/restaurant plaza, all three went bankrupt and closed within months of their opening. Which shouldn't have come as a shock to anyone since most of Flint's residents were out of work and had no money to spend at any of their brand new local attractions.
Another thing that struck me was a horrible racist "joke" Flint native Bob Eubanks told. He cheerfully looked into a camera lens and told an anti Semitic joke about Jewish women not being gay because they marry assholes instead of having sex with them. My jaw hit the floor and I looked over at Sparky and hers was doing the same.
Finally what hit me as I watched this film was how what happened to Flint seemed like a dry run for the rest of us in this multi national corporation gone mad country of ours. In a heart beat they will cite high manufacturing costs and ship all the jobs over to China and then we're, the ones not caught in the military/prison industrial complex anyway, going to convert all the old factories to shopping centers that will house Starbucks, antique stores, and maybe a Walgreens or two.
The film marked, for me anyway, the end of Reagan/Bush and the end of their shitty handling of the economy. Under those two, and just like under Bush the Idiot today, the economy grew for a tiny few while the rest of us got trickled down on. They pissed all over us and told us it was money that was pouring down on us and not their scalding urine. For the record I've got my beefs with the way Bill Clinton handled some things but at least under Clinton a huge amount of people benefited from the expanding economy.
Even though this film is over 15 years old it still stands up today. I highly recommend it.
8 comments:
I saw that movie a long time ago but maybe I should watch it again. You're right that time was a preview of what was to come.
Bringing in all the "big names" was a pitiful way to waste the money they really didn't have.
I had my differences with Clinton but they were small compared to all the good he did. I think that's why the right was constantly trying to catch him at something. They saw he was making a difference for the regular guy and they knew that kind of thing was appealing to many of us.
I saw that when it came out and then again on video, maybe 5 years ago. I need to see it again.
That was the kindling for the fucked up fires that burn now.
I think you are 100% on regarding Clinton.
And I do recall the Boone/Bryant(the original anti gay woman!)/Eubanks moments.
Eeew. Ick. Evil.
I watched Roger and Me again about two months ago, after having seen it a few years back. The same things hit me too, especially the Eubanks "joke."
You're so right--Flint was like a micro version of what would eventually happen everywhere in the US, thanks to "globalization" and other rich-people bullshite. Pennsylvania's had to cope with the shutdown of so much local industry, and it's never coming back. I think that's the saddest part. All these people around me shop WalMart because it's cheap, but they ignore the fact that most of the stuff they buy there used to be made in the US and is now made by dirt-paid Chinese and Bangladeshis. And they never feckin' get the connection that they're supporting those a-hole CEOs who screwed them out of a job, even when I explain it to them. Sad.
I also remember the woman who was selling rabbits for pets and/or meat. I had to leave the room during that part.
I haven't seen it in years, but I'd like to see it again. The whole outsourcing thing is coming back to bite us hard now...I love how the executives at Mattel and the retailers who sell the toys are feigning shock and horror at the lead paint. Yes, let's outsource everything to China and then have a disingenuous hissy fit when they (oh my gosh!) cut corners...cause maybe those cut corners are the whole reason they can manufacture more cheaply? Maybe? Hmmm.
I was also struck by the expensive and risky ways that Flint tried to save itself. I wanted to jump in teh film and make them stop! Just like when I watch a production of Romeo and Juliet!
Pissed-I reccomend seeing it from time to time. It will keep us all awake.
Fran-Evil squared.
Dguz-I thought of you when those rabbit skinning scenes were on. I was outraged for you.
CDP-They feign horror all the way to the bank.
Missy-I wanted to stop them too! All that wasted money.
Thanks for the reminder. I'd like to watch all of his movies again, though I might take a great notion to jump in a river and drown afterward.
On a related note, our school board is, once again, grappling with what to name the new elementary school they're building out in the 'burbs ... after the debacle last spring when they voted to name it Vang Pao Elementary School, literally days before he was arrested for conspiracy to overthrow the government of Laos. Anyway, the "What do you think?" person on the street column in the local paper asked people what they thought the school should be named, and one guy said, "Michael Moore Elementary School, because even if you don't agree with him, he makes people think and that's a good role model for kids."
Yeah!
Suzy-That is a great story!
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