It’s no secret that I don’t like Michael Moore. It’s not even that I disagree with him. I think if you break down his stance on things, I agree with more than I don’t. For me, it’s his tactics and presentation that I hate. He makes personality-first documentaries. In most documentaries, the star is the topic of the doc. In Moore’s docs, he’s the star. He’s in front of the camera, inserting himself into the story. There is some value in that. In Roger & Me, it’s probably more important than in any of his films, given his personal connection to the subject of the film. I think what really bothers me though is how much his docs feel like camera prank shows. I’m not a fan of things like Candid Camera. I’ve never enjoyed watching shows/movies where the humor comes from people who didn’t sign up for this being the butt of the joke. There’s no skill in making regular people uncomfortable. Even if it’s being done to make a point. Even if it’s being done to people who deserve to be laughed at. It always feels like the filmmaker is punching down at the person. By it being Michael Moore’s film, he has all the control. He can edit this however he wants, so any situation he inserts himself into he’s the bully.
The fundamental problem of Roger & Me is that Moore can’t get access to the people who deserve Moore’s bully treatment. The more innocuous or undercover his camera is, the better. The moments that hit hardest are when he gets a camera into rich person events and let people sink themselves. Take something like the overnight jail party. That’s astoundingly tone deaf. Every single person taking part in that looks awful. The scenes speak for themselves. There are several scenes like that where every “eat the rich” impulse in my body gets triggered and I want to burn it all to the ground. Then, counter that with the scenes of Moore trying to get to Roger Smith’s office at GM or attempting to find Smith at the country club. Those are scenes of Moore being a dick to working-class people just trying to do their job. It’s a mixed message. He’s making a film about how the entitled executives stomp all over people, so he makes his film by…acting entitled and stomping over people. That really doesn’t sit well with me.
The implication of this film is that Moore is here to give a voice to the little guy. He loves pointing out that he’s from Flint and has friends who were fired by GM. However, so much of this film is him gawking at the unfortunate people. Why do we spend so much time with the rabbit lady? Do we really need to see her kill and skin a rabbit? No. All he needed to make his point is show that the plant closings have led to her resorting to selling rabbits to try and make ends meet. He stays with her for shock value. Or there’s all the time he spent with the man evicting people. Moore’s camera felt more like a news cameraman trying to catch something salacious for the evening news than a documentarian trying to build a thesis.
It’s a shame, because there’s some very good stuff in this. Moore is well-researched on all of this. He makes a lot of great points throughout the movie. The movie has aged disturbingly well. The games the large corporations play are still the same. Flint has never come out its downturn. Instead of closing plants, we now associate Flint with not having clean water. Moore’s personal connection to this topic and very real frustration is an asset that a filmmaker who desired the spotlight less could’ve used better.
Even without Michael Moore, this movie would’ve been a hard sell. Typically, I prefer documentaries that are presented as explorations not theses. I like a film that goes in saying “What’s this about? Let’s find out and see where it takes us” rather than “I’m making this claim now let me give you all the reasons why”. I like the impression that the filmmaker’s mind wasn’t made up before they made the film. There’s no curiosity in Roger & Me. When there’s no curiosity in a documentary, I either need it to be as dry and measured as a Ken Burns series or have such a tight argument that I feel like I’m being sold the truth and not an opinion. I’m never going to get that with a Michael Moore doc.
Verdict: Weakly Don’t Recommend
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