Roger & Me

Media:	DVD
Directed by:	Michael Moore (II)
Starring:	Michael Moore (II)
Release date:	19 August, 2003
List price:	~~$19.98~~
Our price:	$15.98 that is 20% off!

Roger & Me

Average rating: Stars

Kick-ass (yo).

If you want to know how Michael Moore got started, this is the film to see. A scathing, brutally funny assault on corporate culture in general and General Motors in particular (SEE ALSO: "The Awful Truth", "TV Nation" and "Bowling for Columbine"). My rating: 10/10.

Roger & Me - Michael Moore (II)

What does it mean to be anti-capitalistic?

First off, no one would deny that the CEO of GM was a greedy old white man that only cared about making a profit for his company and shareholders. The thing that irks me about this movie is how poorly it defends the side of capitalism. Essentially, capitalism has no voice. Moore has obviously never taken a course in economics.

Why doesn't he make a movie about a socialist society? Go to Cuba and film how awful the living conditions are there. The people there will never live to see the day of 5% unemployment. In case you didn't know, most European countries have well over 10% unemployment. They'll never have any of the opportunities that even poor people enjoy here. How would it be to live under a politburo where a bunch of old men sit around a table and decide what job you do, where you live, and how you live?

Capitalism gets a bad wrap because it's based on a theory that men will only do what's in their best interest. It's interesting that this crazy theory, when applied in it's most purest form, has resulted in the wealthiest country in the world. Make no mistake about this either, no one cares for their and the world's poor better than the U.S.

I do feel bad about those individuals in Flint that lost their GM job. What's great about this country is how determined our people are to rise up and find better lives for themselves and their families. They also have their freedom to do so.

Michael Moore (II) - Roger & Me

Coarse and uninformative - Social Development 101?

Although I admire Moore for successfully doing something about what the rest of us just read in the papers, this doc hammered in the same point over and over again, and it hammered hard - by the end of it I was numb. If you don't live in the States, this is a dangerous vehicle for thinking that all Americans are unreliable, insincere, selfish and stupid. This issue is more complex than "if you lay off workers you're an evil man". Yes, corporate capitalism isn't ethical, but Moore offers no history, explanation, dissection, comparison, or suggestions; all he does is show pictures of rich people next to poor people. Maybe it's "Social Development 101", just a wake-up call, and the analysis and suggestions for improvement can come later. The final sequence was very touching - the head honcho of GM making a pretty and utterly insincere Christmas speech about how wonderful the world is, intercut with scenes of a family in the same town being thrown out of their house. But if you're genuinely interested in finding out more about this kind of subject, buy a book.